Despite never having been much of a heavy smoker, a 63-year-old man said he has been told several times that it doesn't make much of a difference whether someone smokes 10 or 40 cigarettes a day – there will always be damage to one's health.
This was particularly real when the man, who has preferred to remain anonymous, had to undergo heart surgery which was caused, as least in part, from his regular smoking.
Today, 31 May, is the 29th annual World No Tobacco Day, as coined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1987. This day encourages smokers in all WHO member states to abstain from any and all forms of tobacco-based products for 24 hours. This is of course also a day used by the WHO to raise awareness about the negative effects of tobacco, which currently causes around 6 million annual deaths worldwide, with 600,000 as a result of second-hand smoking.
"I started at around 17 or 18," the man said, "but it was never really heavy smoking. I would only go just over a packet if there were special events." He smoked on and off ever since that age until around a month and a half ago when he had to undergo heart surgery.
His father died of throat cancer at 45 years of age after being a heavy smoker. The man's brother was also a heavy smoker before he died. This newsroom asked why he always went back to smoking despite clear evidence of the negative effects it had on his family's health.
"I quit around four or five times in my life for stretches of up to five years," the man said, "But I will never touch another cigarette again after my surgery."
"Every time I started again it was either because of a particularly trying time in my life or because of some social event where someone offers you a cigarette and that 'one' leads to the cravings coming back full swing."
Considering he knew full well what the consequences were, even at a young age, this newsroom was curious how he still started smoking as a teenager. "When you're young, you feel invincible," said the man who then went on to offer a number of observations on quitting and addiction.
He said that you never stop getting cravings every now and then even after weeks and months of quitting. It's all about will power in the end, the man said, adding that he doesn't need patches to stop.
The subject of e-cigarettes and the vapeing trend also came up and the man said that despite not burning paper, the nicotine concentration is still high enough to cause damage. The idea of stress-reduction, although a fine valid argument for most smokers, the ex-smoker said that "it's just another excuse."
Cigarettes "definitely don't do any good" and when it comes to actually quitting, it's all about volition, he said. "If you aren't ready to overcome the cravings, then you can't stop."
On this day, the WHO is increasing pressure on countries to use plain packaging for all tobacco products to reduce their attractiveness, particularly to young people. "Plain packaging of tobacco products restricts or prohibits the use of logos, colours, brand images and promotional information on packaging other than brand and product names displayed in a standard colour and font style," the WHO said in a statement.
"Plain packaging reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products. It kills the glamour, which is appropriate for a product that kills people," said WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. "It restricts tobacco advertising and promotion. It limits misleading packaging and labelling. And it increases the effectiveness of health warnings."
This is not the first time that the idea of plain packaging has been brought up and the WHO are using Australia as an example which all countries should follow after having introduced plain packaging, in conjunction with new and enlarged health warnings, in 2012. Since then, smoking in Australia has been in steady decline.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/1ZadYMI
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