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Tobacco doesn't care whether you are a man, woman or child! It just KILLS!


Tobacco a slow and not-so-silent a killer surrounds most of us in our day to day life. Smoking tobacco or chewing tobacco is considered as normal and routine by many. Having a bad day, take a puff, tired of looking at the computer screens, let’s go out and draw some smoke. Smokeless tobacco which is available to be chewed as gutka and other products constitute yet another common break from work for many, or at times is chewed for “passing time” as well! And yes, just in case you don’t consume tobacco even then chances are that you might be under the radar of passive tobacco consumption because of someone near to you. You might be inhaling tobacco smoke emitted by your spouse at home, your colleague at work or by people around you in an authorized Hookah café! Being engulfed in a cloud full of poison does sound bad for sure, but the good news is that this bad is totally and entirely in our own hands.

Tobacco in any form can have a plethora of ill-effects on the human body. From minor looking patches in the mouth to cancer that begins from these patches; from getting breathless on climbing stairs to inability to breath, and death, tobacco does it all. Talking about the mouth, changes inside the mouth begin as soon as one starts consuming tobacco even in minor amounts. These can be in the form of white or red patches, inability to tolerate spicy food or gradual reduction in the opening of the jaw. Unfortunately, these changes are often overlooked by the people consuming tobacco either because a hidden fear of unknown harbors them which restricts them from discussing it with their doctor or because they are completely ignorant of the ill-effects which makes them oblivious to these changes. Both smoking and smokeless tobacco are responsible for causing their share of deadly diseases in the human body. But imagine the level of addiction that these routinely selling materials cause, that despite the health warning that every pack of tobacco bears, despite the clear display of “Smoking kills” at right bottom corner of the big screen in cinemas, despite the public advertisements which exemplify how people’s lives change for worse due to this addiction one still continues to consume tobacco. And why? Probably in false hope, that their health won’t be affected by it. But the reality is, tobacco doesn’t spare anyone, it does affect everyone in some way or the other, and in worst cases, it leaves behind brooding families. Sadly despite all the stated facts, tobacco consumption has only increased in the past decade and the numbers continue to rise rapidly because it is now popularized amongst a section which was previously a bit aloof from it, which are women! Be it cigarettes, or the fashionable hookah which is considered harmless, tobacco has now gripped both the genders in high numbers.

There is no breakthrough medicine that one needs to discover to cure the tobacco-induced harms. All that one needs is, a strong will to avoid starting tobacco in any form, or a firm decision to quit it if one is already an addict. Quitting tobacco by will power alone can be difficult and rare, thus it’s advisable to take the help of a specialist who can make one quit in a graded manner or by using necessary alternative medications depending on the stage of addiction that one is in. Today on world no tobacco day, take that first and smallest step that you can, to say No this widely marketed product which does KILL!
Louis Pasteur a famous microbiologist and chemist once said that "when meditating over a disease I never think of finding a remedy for it, but, instead a means of preventing it." In this case, the prevention lies entirely in your hands; you just have to say yes to health and no to tobacco.
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