GUWAHATI, Aug 11 � Parents, guardians, and anti-tobacco campaigners have started expressing concern over children having easy access to tobacco products in Assam, and now some of them are beginning to question the silence of the Health department and other agencies in this regard.
Hospitals and clinics are reporting more tobacco-related ailments in children, and some doctors believe that unless tackled immediately, a generation would grow up with a plethora of serious health problems. The emerging problem is not limited to towns and cities, as young people in villages have also unfettered access to tobacco products which come in various forms.
Bharati Deka, the mother of a young man, says her son is hooked to chewing tobacco, and has lost his appetite since the time he started the habit. �Today my son is a poor shadow of what he used to be� looks thin and remains in an irritable mood,� she complained.
In Guwahati, some schools have become strict in checking tobacco use among its students, but almost all government schools are yet to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on tobacco consumption.
�It�s a great surprise why an effort to stop tobacco use among young people is absent in society. We have a progressive Health department. But, when it comes to denying tobacco access to minors, there is no initiative in sight,� said Rehana Rehman, executive secretary of Voluntary Health Association of Assam (VHAA).
She said that considering the health implications, control on tobacco should have been a high priority of the health sector. Unfortunately, young people are having ready access to cigarettes and chewing tobacco even close to educational institutions.
Rehman, who is well-acquainted with the campaign to curb tobacco in India, said that penalizing those who sold tobacco to minors has to be the norm. Mentioning that a State like Sikkim has been made smoke-free, she said that similar steps should be considered by the Assam Government, too.
She said that the Task Force for Tobacco Control has made some forays into checking the sale of tobacco products, but such efforts have to be sustained for the greater good of society.
Chandramohan Das, a lawyer and an anti-tobacco campaigner, said that every school and family has to be aware about the health and social cost of tobacco consumption by young boys and girls. �Generally for every child that starts consuming smoking or chewing tobacco, we have at least two or three others in his or her peer group that would follow suit,� he said.
Expressing bewilderment over the lack of Government intervention in this regard, he said that inaction was tantamount to inviting disastrous consequences for scores of children, who were unaware about the ill-effects of tobacco consumption. �No welfare state can ignore the situation that we see today�unlike many other places where age proof is required to buy tobacco products, in Assam anyone can purchase cigarettes, bidis, or gutkha,� he remarked.
When contacted, the director of Dr B Borooah Cancer Institute, Dr Amal Chandra Kataki, said that young people having access to tobacco products or getting addicted to them is an issue needing urgent intervention. �It starts as a fashion, but quickly becomes a habit. The short-term effects are often overlooked, but in course of time consuming tobacco leads to grave ailments like respiratory diseases and cancer.
He mentioned that mass awareness drives targeting young children were the need of the hour, and no efforts should be spared to stop young boys and girls having access to tobacco products by all stakeholders committed to curb use of tobacco products.
