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ETHICS & VALUESASSIGNMENT

TOPIC:Spread and ill-effects of Smoking: A Statistical and

Infographical approach

Submitted by-Dhiraj jhunjhunwala (13BCL0213)

Kapil Mahanta (13BMA0028)

SLOT: B2COURSE-CODE: HUM121FACULTY: Prof. Balamurugan J.

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INDEXSl.No. Content Page No.

1. Introduction 32. Methodology 43. Findings 5-114. Data-Analysis 11-125. Conclusion 136. References 14

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INTRODUCTION

Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly the substance is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant which have been rolled into a small square of rice paper to create a small, round cylinder called a "cigarette".

Smoking is primarily practiced as a route of administration for recreational drug use because the combustion of the dried plant leaves vaporizes and delivers active substances into the lungs where they are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and reach bodily tissue. In the case of cigarette smoking these substances are contained in a mixture of aerosol particles and gasses and include the pharmacologically active alkaloid nicotine; the vaporization creates heated aerosol and gas to form that allows inhalation and deep penetration into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream of the active substances occurs. In some cultures, smoking is also carried out as a part of various rituals, where participants use it to help induce trance-like states that, they believe, can lead them to "spiritual enlightenment".

Smoking is one of the most common forms of recreational drug use. Tobacco smoking is today by far the most popular form of smoking and is practiced by over one billion people in the majority of all human societies. Less common drugs for smoking include cannabis and opium. Some of the substances are classified as hard narcotics, like heroin, but the use of these is very limited as they are usually not commercially available.

The history of smoking can be dated to as early as 5000 BC, and has been recorded in many different cultures across the world. Early smoking evolved in association with religious ceremonies; as offerings to deities, in cleansing rituals or to allow shamans and priests to alter their minds for purposes of divination or spiritual enlightenment. After the European exploration and conquest of the Americas, the practice of smoking tobacco quickly spread to the rest of the world. In regions like India and Sub-Saharan Africa, it merged with existing practices of smoking (mostly of cannabis). In Europe, it introduced a new type of social activity and a form of drug intake which previously had been unknown. The revenue, not to mention taxes, jobs created, etc., we live in a country that was founded upon the principal of freedom from over reaching governments. Ultimately prohibition didn't work and cigarettes will be no different. On a national basis of course, few city has taken some steps like banning smoking in establishments where a certain percentage of the revenue must be from alcohol in order to be able to smoke inside.

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METHODOLOGYThe research methodology consists of an online study work. The research paper presented, is completely based on the facts and data collected by the student. A various number of websites and blogs, related to the topic have been checked and studied. Also, the authors of the paper have gone through a number of online communities, related to the topic, for collecting sufficient content for the paper. Inspite of majorly concentrating on the national-level statistics, the authors have also taken into consideration the aspects of the topic worldwide, on an international level; however, the statistics related to India are mainly highlighted. Various infographics, statistical datasets, and content have been collected and organised in the form of a research paper, so as to draw the necessary conclusions at the end of the research paper. The content of this paper, named as - “Spread and ill-effects of Smoking: A Statistical and Infographical approach” , thus, consists of the information regarding the topic in a statistical and graphical form, in an organised fashion, so as to make it easy for the reader to draw to the expected conclusion and fulfill the aim of spreading awareness about ill-effects of smoking and its widespread consequences.

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FINDINGSThe findings of the paper are in the form of statistics and infographic, collected from wide internet media.

Men vs. Women Smokers (STATISTICS)

Indian women have now figured right on top in an infamous list - smoking.

In a shocking trend, India has now more female smokers - over 12.1 million - than any country except the United States. In 2012, female smoking prevalence was 3.2%, which is virtually unchanged since 1980.Smokers in India consumed an average of 8.2 cigarettes per day as tobacco claims a million lives every year in the country.Smoking has emerged as the third top risk for health loss in India. Between 1980 and 2012, smoking prevalence among Indian men decreased from 33.8% to 23%. In 2012, 967 million people smoked every day globally compared with 721 million in 1980. Around three in 10 men (31%) and one in 20 women (6%) now smoke daily compared with four in 10 men (41%) and one in 10 women (10%) in 1980. These are the findings of the study "Smoking Prevalence and Cigarette Consumption in 187 countries, 1980-2012," which was published on January 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. India has been found to have made progress in reducing the prevalence of daily smoking among men, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). However tobacco use (excluding second-hand smoke) led to 6.1% of years of life lost due to premature death, and 5.1% of health loss in India.

"Smoking rates remain dangerously high for men and there is more work to be done to drive these rates lower," said Dr K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, in response to the findings. "The high number of female smokers in India is also troubling," he added.

"Despite the tremendous progress made on tobacco control, much more remains to be done," said IHME director Dr Christopher Murray. "We have the legal means to support tobacco control, and where we see progress being made we need to look for ways to accelerate that progress. Where we see stagnation, we need to find out what's going wrong."

The number of cigarettes smoked annually has grown to more than 6 trillion. In 75 countries, smokers consumed an average of more than 20 cigarettes per day in 2012. Data released earlier had found that smoking is eight times more prevalent among Indian men than women. However, an average Indian female smoker puffs more cigarettes a day (7) than male

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(6.1).Over one in five (21%) Indian male tobacco users smoke daily as against only around 3% of women.

Nearly half of Indian men (47.9%) aged 15 years and above consume tobacco. Nearly 206 million Indians use smokeless form of tobacco (loose-leaf chewing tobacco and snuff). Smokeless tobacco use is high among Indian men at 32.9%. One in every five female tobacco users in India uses the smokeless form as against one in 10 who smoke. Also, an average Indian woman is taking up smoking at 17.5 years as against 18.8 years among men. These were the new estimates of global tobacco use, published in the medical journal the Lancet few months ago. The quit rate was low in India with less than 20% of adults who had ever smoked saying they had given up.

World Statistics (as of 2005)

Percentage of tobacco use among adults

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The graph above shows the variance of the percentage of smokers amongst various age-groups. The statistics reveal that the major percentage of smokers constitute the category of age-group of 26-35, and shockingly, not the teenagers.

A lengthy study conduted in order to establish the strong association necessary for legislative action

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Not so uncommon fact, the above statistics, that was conducted in India in the year of 2008, show how the risk of getting caught by the cancer increases with the increase in the consumption of tobacco(cigarettes), that is, smoking.

This self-explanatory graph shows the variance of the percentage population of the smokers in countries around the world. We see that though, China tops the list, India is also in a pitiful condition with ranking of 2nd in the world. This is also attributed to India’s large population.

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Many of the people would not know, but the tobacco is the sole cause of the majority of deaths taking place in the world. The above statistics is evident of the year 2005, however, not much has changed though.

One of the most surprising fact or statistic that the authors of this research paper had come across, is the amazingly high contribution of smoking in the major economic burdens caused by the human beings.

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According to the statistics, the amount is 2.1 trillion dollars, which is shockingly the same as that of armed violence and terrorism!

In one of the statistics, it also became evident that the most probable reason for the increasing rate of smoking population, is the lack of awareness among the individuals( both smokers and the non-smokers). This can be seen in the following graph:

HARMFUL EFFECTS OF SMOKINGOut of a large number of ill-effects of smoking, that have been stated across the web, some of the most common and hazardous ones include the following:

Leads to deforestation for cultivating tobacco plants.

The land becomes degraded after cultivation and remains that way for a couple of years.

Radioactive chemicals present in cigarette carry extra danger for anyone who is breathing it in.

Chemicals such as formaldehyde, pesticides, lead, arsenic, cadmium, etc., pose great threat to anyone who smoke cigarettes.

Passive smoking is actually more harmful and hence non-smokers who are exposed to cigarette smoke by actual smokers are put at danger too.

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The core of most cigarette filters -- the part that looks like white cotton, is actually a form of plastic called cellulose acetate. By itself, cellulose acetate is very slow to degrade in our environment. Depending on the conditions of the area the cigarette butt is discarded in, it can take 18 months to 10 years for a cigarette filter to decompose.

There is risk to environment with so much smoker population as the smoke that is exhaled brigs changes in the content of the air and if in excess, it can very well cause great disaster.

DATA ANALYSISAfter analysing and scrutinising all the collected data, relevant to the topic, there are some basic points that can be easily noted from our findings. These points are:

There are a number of risks and ill-effects of smoking( including cancer). These effects are more prone to show in cases of high consumption of tobacco, in the form of smoking. The risk of cancer increases proportionally with the increase in the consumption of tobacco, that is, increase in the intensity of smoking.

According to a survey conducted, there is about a 20 year time lap between the starting of chain-smoking and the onset of its consequences, in the form of cancer. Thus, though the hazardous effects of smoking may not show at an early age, but it definitely shows in the long run.

In one of the statistics, it was shown that more than 80% of Indian population are unaware of the anti-tobacco laws. On the other hand, less than 30% people in India are aware about the Non-smokers’ rights. This clearly depicts that there is an urgent need of increasing literacy and the onset of various awareness camps, dedicated to this purpose. It is highly expected, that when such statistics would improve, there will be a phenomenal change in the smoking habbits of people throughout the country.

India ranks 2nd among the top 10 countries of the world, with highest number of population percentage, addicted to tobacco; after China, which ranks 1st. This statistics , though, might also be a factor of India being a country with 2nd largest population in the world. Whatever the reason, the statistics are not at all justifiable, and definitely needs to be improved.

Surprisingly, the recent statistics depict that the major reason for the highest economic loss due to human activity is not terrorism and wars, but is instead Smoking! The amount corresponds to around 2.1 trillion dollars of money per year, which is about the same as the loss incurred due to heavy terrorism and war activities around the globe.This clearly depicts that there is a need to take the problem of increasing smokers more seriously, than the risks of advent of a global or civil war.

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According to the world statistics ( as per 2005 records), provided by the WHO(World Health Organisation), the country with the highest population percentage of smokers, is Russia, followed by countries like China and India. Overall, the statistics is extremely worse in Asia than in Europe and America. Evdiently, it’s time we start taking important measures to prevent the statistics from going even higher, or otherwise wait for a cancerous future.

It is also surprising that the smokers, expected to be most prominent amongst the teenagers, is actually the most popular in the adolescents, with an age group of 25-40, the class of people which constitutes the highest percentage of population in India, at present. The scenario definitely needs to be changed, if we do not more than 90% of smoking population in India, in the future.

Another interesting finding is the increase in the number of women smokers in India. According to a statistic, mentioned earlier, India consists of more women smokers than men smokers. Now, it’s confusing whether this depicts improvement in our system, with increasing women empowerment, or is it actually women destruction!

WHY GOVERNMENT DOES NOT BAN SMOKING?

  It’s true that they should ban smoking, but this nation being a group of free thinkers and individual freedom, a national ban would cause a riot to the smokers of the nation, like someone posted before: Prohibition doesn't work.

People are going to find ways around to get whatever they want, especially if it is banned. There's also the economic stand point that there are a lot of tobacco farmers and companies that would be greatly hurt by this ban, as well as the fact that most tobacco companies do support local politicians and government groups, so the fear of losing financial and political support is what is keeping our government from banning tobacco outright, hence with the staggering taxes and such on tobacco products.

The cigarette industry earns whooping large revenue and contributes significantly in taxes. It would be a big loss to the government without these sources of finance. By the way, it would face too much opposition from the tobacco manufacturers. Besides, plastics bags haven't been banned, only one kind has been banned (the thinnest kind) so there was no great opposition since there were many other products the businesses could manufacture. 

Moreover, the government has banned these plastic bags only because of awareness and the shocking effects of the Mumbai floods. I think, only if public awareness increases and there's pressure put in the government for a long time, will they do anything.

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CONCLUSION

After scrutinising and analysing various statistical data and infographic, relevant to our topic, the authors would give three key messages for smokers in the 21st century. These are:

First, the risk is big. Large studies in the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and India have examined the eventual effects on mortality in populations of men and of women in which many began to smoke in early adult life and did not quit.All these studies showed that in middle age (about 30 to 69 years of age), mortality among cigarette smokers was two to three times the mortality among otherwise similar persons who had never smoked, leading to a reduction in life span by an average of about 10 years .This average reduction combines zero loss for those not killed by tobacco with an average loss of well over a decade for those who are killed by it.

Second, many of those killed are still in middle age, losing many years of life. Some of those killed in middle age might have died soon anyway, but others might have lived on for decades. On average, those killed in middle age by smoking lose about 20 years of life expectancy as compared with persons who have never smoked.

Third, stopping smoking works. Those who have smoked cigarettes since early adulthood but stop at 30, 40, or 50 years of age gain about 10, 9, and 6 years of life expectancy, respectively, as compared with those who continue smoking.

Smoking kills and never saves. It’s just an illusion of pleasure in life, and not something we would crave for, ever. Considering the various ill-effects of smoking, it is very important that one takes necessary steps in order to completely remove this filthy element form the society. Both, the smokers as well as the non.smokers should take part in doing this. The smokers can make attempts to eradicate the habbit, while the non-smokers can help them in doing this.

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References Web-Url: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-home-to-second-highest-

number-of-women-smokers-globally/articleshow/28548597.cms Web-Url: https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2014/11/ Web-Url:

http://gamapserver.who.int/mapLibrary/Files/Maps/Global_WHS08_TobaccoAdults_2005.png

Wikipedia free source Web-Url: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1308383

Source Information-From the Center for Global Health Research, St. Michael's Hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto (P.J.); and the Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, Richard Doll Building, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom (R.P.).

Indian Journal of CancerWeb-Url: http://www.indianjcancer.com/showBackIssue.asp?issn=0019-509X;year=2014;volume=51;issue=5;month=December;supp=Y

Ideas for changeWeb-Url: http://www.ideasforindia.in/article.aspx?article_id=385

Google ImagesWeb-Url: www.google.co.in/images