Cause of Cancer: Exposure To Passive Smoking Alarming In Northeast

GUWAHATI: At a time when the North East region is witnessing an alarming rise in cancer cases, people here are found to have been exposed to more passive smoking at home than in other parts of the country.

According to a Global Adult Tobacco Survey, while the national average of people exposed to second-hand smoke at home is 39 percent, it is as high as 84 percent in Mizoram. In the other NE States, the percentage is much higher than the national average as well.

The survey said the percentage of people exposed to second-hand smoke at the workplace is 46% in Meghalaya, 44% in Mizoram (44), 43% in Manipur and 31% in Assam. The national average of such smoking is 30%. The percentage of people exposed to second-hand smoke in public places in Manipur (30 %), Meghalaya (28%) and Nagaland (23%) is more or equal to the national average (23 percent).

Sources said the survey was carried out to obtain estimates of various dimensions of tobacco-use to systematically monitor adult tobacco users and key tobacco control indicators and to contribute to the understanding of the effectiveness of tobacco control measures.

Director of B Borooah Cancer Institute Dr. AC Kataki said it is a matter of serious concern that the people of NE are more exposed to passive smoking than in other parts of the country. He said such development will result in an increasing number of cancer cases unless preventive measures are not initiated.

The report said the average monthly expenditure incurred by cigarette smokers is Rs 1,474 in Nagaland, Rs 1,242 in Arunachal Pradesh, Rs 1,192 in Meghalaya, Rs 803 in Tripura, Rs 799 in Assam, Rs 713 in Mizoram and Rs 351 in Manipur while the national average is Rs 1,192.

Similarly, the average monthly expenditure incurred by beedi smokers is Rs 787 in Assam, Rs 331 in Arunachal Pradesh, Rs 317 in Tripura, Rs 266 in Nagaland, Rs 256 in Mizoram, Rs 181 in Meghalaya and Rs 136 in Manipur against the national average of Rs 284.

Also Read: “Smoking More Than 20 Cigarettes A Day Can Make You Blind”, Says study