This year’s theme for World No Tobacco Day is ‘ Tobacco- a threat to development’. It proposes measures to be taken by the Government as well as the public to promote health and development by countering the global tobacco crisis.

Fighting the tobacco menace will help countries prevent millions of people from falling ill and dying due to tobacco-related disease. Saying no to smoking can help combat poverty and according to a first-ever WHO report, reduce large-scale environmental degradation.

This year,  WHO is calling on heads of nations to implement strong tobacco control measures. These include banning marketing and advertising of tobacco, promoting plain packaging of tobacco products, raising excise taxes, and making indoor public places and workplaces smoke-free.

It has been estimated that around  7 million people die every year due to tobacco-related diseases.

According to WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, tobacco leads to poverty, reduces economic productivity, contributes to poor household food choices, and pollutes indoor air. He strongly believes that with strict tobacco control measures, governments can safeguard their countries’ future by protecting tobacco users and non-users from these deadly products.

This year WHO has come out with a report that will stun us all – tobacco has a deteriorating effect on the environment. The report states that tobacco waste contains over 7000 toxic chemicals that poison the environment, including human carcinogens.

It is disheartening to know that up to 10 billion of the 15 billion cigarettes sold daily are disposed in the environment. Cigarette butts account for 30–40% of all items collected in coastal and urban clean-ups.

Other than the environmental hazard, tobacco also plays havoc with the lives of impoverished families as spending on tobacco products often represent 10% of total household expenditure – meaning less money for food, education and healthcare.

The question is how to tackle this menace. Just banning advertising and making public places smoke free is not enough. The best remedy to reduce the rate of consumption of tobacco is to increase tobacco taxes and prices. It will act as an effective deterrent as the increased rates will pinch people’s pockets.

Stubborn smokers who are finding it difficult to shake off this habit can choose this day to quit smoking. There are many ways to do so and the internet is abuzz with tips to quit this habit.

 India with 275 million tobacco users, has one of the highest levels of tobacco consumption in the world. May 31 is observed as World No Tobacco Day to spread awareness about the ill effects of tobacco and to draw attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and its negative health effects.