The Smoker Body (smoking Effects On Human)

THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2007 GULF NEWS

8 In depth

Smoking banned from today

PUBLIC DEPARTMENTS IN DUBAI BECOME SMOKE-FREE ENVIRONMENTS Anti-tobacco law being discussed

Beginning today, public departments in Dubai will become smoke-free environments. Smoking regulations will come into effect in shopping malls and amusement centres on September 15, and all eateries, including cafes and other establishments such as beauty salons, hotels and cinemas two months later. Federally, the government is discussing a draft anti-tobacco law at the highest levels. According to a senior official involved in the discussions, who requested anonymity, the draft federal law includes a ban on smoking in some public places, tightening tobacco imports and restricting advertising and sponsorship. The provisions also include prohibiting the cultivation of tobacco and establishing factories of tobacco products. “Tobacco advertisements may become a thing of the past, if the draft law is approved in the present form,” said the official. — Binsal Abdul Qader, Staff Reporter

Alarming facts

According to a study released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in 2004, top five countries in tobacco consumption in 2000 are: China — consumed 2.38 billion kg of tobacco, roughly the equivalent of 2.38 trillion cigarettes in 2000.

India – consumed 426.6 million kg, or 427 billion cigarettes. FAO projects growth to 511.4 billion in 2010. United States – 394 million kg or 394 billion cigarettes. FAO projects a decrease to 393.5 million kg, or 393.5 billion by 2010. Brazil – 183.7 million kg, or 183.7 billion cigarettes. FAO projects 233.9 million or 240 billion cigarettes in 2010. Japan – 153.7 million kg, or 154 billion cigarettes.

TRUE STORY Last year, V.K., a 44-year old Indian resident of Dubai, was diagnosed with tongue cancer. As part of the treatment, he has had part of his tongue and jaw removed. He had chewed smokeless tobacco for 20 years. His wife, S.M., told Gulf News her husband’s story as he can no longer communicate effectively. “My husband started chewing tobacco when he was 15. He chewed often but not continuously. He finally quit in 1997, but the damage was done. In March 2006, he was noticed he had a growth on his tongue. The diagnosis was tongue cancer and he had surgery in India. He had half of his tongue and his lower jaw removed. When we came back, he did radiation therapy. He’s OK now.

“I am angry that he ever chewed tobacco. He is not the only one affected by the cancer. Our family has suffered too. He gets frustrated, depressed and angry because when he talks, we don’t understand him. “He cannot chew anymore. He can only eat soft foods. I pray hard and I take care of him. But if I see people smoking or chewing tobacco, I tell them to stop. I tell them my husband’s story and I say that the same thing is happening to them.” — N.M.

The Smoker’s Body

BY NINA MUSLIM Staff Reporter

Dubai Efforts to curb tobacco use in the community are ongoing, despite the lack of unified anti-tobacco legislation in the UAE, one year before the country has to show its commitment to a world health body. As a signatory to the World Health OrganisationFramework Convention of Tobacco Control (WHOFCTC), the UAE is required to submit a progress report on its tobacco control efforts by February next year. Dr Maryam Mattar, assistant undersecretary for primary healthcare and public health at the Ministry of Health, told Gulf News that the legislation would come as soon as possible, but they could not remain idle in the meantime. “We cannot wait for legislation before intervention. [Health initiatives and legislative work] are moving in parallel,” she said. Currently, legislation regulating smoking and tobacco use are being implemented at the emirate level. Dubai has taken the lead in this, by being the first to ban smoking in public places, to be done in phases from public departments to shopping malls. Exact details will be announced tonight. Dr Layla Al Marzouqi, cardiologist at Dubai Hospital and anti-smoking activist, told Gulf News that the move would succeed this

Every 6.5 seconds someone dies from tobacco use, says the World Health Organization. Research suggests that people who start smoking in their teens (as more than 70 per cent do) and continue for two decades or more will die 20 to 25 years earlier than those who never light up.

1 CATARACTS

2 TOOTH DECAY

Smokers have a 40 per cent higher rate of cataracts, a clouding of the eye’s lens that blocks light and may lead to blindness. Smoke causes cataracts in two ways: by irritating the eyes and by releasing chemicals into the lungs that then travel up the bloodstream to the eyes. Smoking is also associated with age-related macular degeneration, an incurable eye disease caused by the deterioration of the central portion of the retina, known as the macula. The macula is responsible for focusing central vision in the eye and controls our ability to read, drive a car, recognise faces or colors, and see objects in fine detail.

Smoking interferes with the mouth’s chemistry, creating excess plaque and yellowing teeth. There is some evidence that smoking contributes to tooth decay. Smokers are one and half times more likely to lose their teeth.

SMOKER

NORMAL REGI VARGHESE/Gulf News

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Helping to quit

The Ministry of Health has set up its sixth anti-smoking clinic in Jumeirah, which began operations today. time because the community was more aware. “It’s a good first step even if it is small. It will be successful because people are becoming less tolerant of smokers. Smokers support this because they want to give up but don’t have the willpower,” she said. Which is where the Health Ministry comes in, by increasing the number of anti-smoking clinics and services in the UAE. “Our commitment is not only stronger, but we have projects in the community (that have a realistic chance of success),” Dr Maryam said. The projects include giving free consultation to pa-

tients, and selling nicotine replacement therapies and smoking cessation medicines at half price for patients holding health cards from the Ministry of Health, she added. The ministry has also set up its sixth anti-smoking clinic, and the only antismoking clinic in Dubai, in Jumeirah, which began operations today. Dr Maryam said the ministry will also strengthen its anti-smoking clinic in Ras Al Khaimah by extending the hours and increasing staff, and attach anti-smoking departments to primary healthcare centres in all emirates to “seek out smokers and help them to quit.”

3 EMPHYSEMA In addition to lung cancer, smoking causes emphysema, a swelling and rupturing of the lung’s air sacs that reduces the lungs’ capacity to take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. In extreme cases, a tracheotomy allows patients to breathe. An opening is cut in the wind pipe and a ventilator to force air into the lungs. Chronic bronchitis (not shown) creates a build-up of pusfilled mucus, resulting in a painful cough and breathing difficulties

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NORMAL

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WHEN SMOKERS QUIT

r 20 minutes after quitting, you d bloo and rate heart pressure drops. 12 hours after quitting, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

tting, 2 weeks to 3 months after qui s and your blood circulation improve es. eas incr n ctio fun g your lun 1 to 9 months after quitting, th coughing and shortness of brea es ctur stru ke ir-li (ha decrease; cilia s) lung the of out cus mu e mov t tha n. ctio fun mal regain nor

After 15 YEARS

1 to 15 YEARS ss 1 year after quitting, the exce ase dise rt hea y nar risk of coro is half that of a smoker. 5 to 15 years after quitting, stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker.

g 10 years after quitting, the lun half cancer death chance is about of that of a regular smoker. Risk cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease. heart 15 years after, risk of coronary r. oke -sm non a of t disease is tha

Visible and immediate rewards of quitting Quitting helps to stop the damaging effects of tobacco on your appearance including: th, premature wrinkling, bad brea stained teeth, gum disease, yellow fingernails.

ty Source: American Cancer Socie

In numbers

People say Gassan Khazoun, Lebanon

49, therapist

“I had my first cigarette when I was 11 years old. I hated it. But that didn’t stop me from having another at 14. That started my 33-year love affair with cigarettes. I convinced myself I needed it to release stress. I quit smoking two years ago through electro-magnetic acupuncture. After one session, I never smoked again.” Suresh Kumar, India 39, accountant

“I started smoking when I was 17, and started cutting back seven years ago. It took six and a half months for me to control it but I managed to kick the habit through determination. I manage to control myself by doing exercise everyday for an hour and a half, as well as practising yoga.” Mariam Abonamah, US 23, public relations

“I smoked since I was 18, but stopped three months ago because I started feeling the physical effects. A friend of mine introduced me to the hypnotist Dave Crane as part of his life motivation campaign. I didn’t believe at first that I could stop smoking through hypnosis, but it worked.”

The 2002 Global Youth Tobacco Survey and 2005 Global Schoolbased Student Health Survey, conducted by the UAE health and education ministries, in partnership with the World Health Organisation and the Centres for Disease Control, found alarming figures on smoking trends in schoolchildren between the age of 13 and 15.

70%

Secondhand smoke

You are the company you keep, especially when tobacco is involved as many non-smoking friends of smokers discovered during Ministry of Health anti-smoking drives. Dr Ebrahim Gabir, head of the anti-smoking clinic in Sharjah, said roughly 20 per cent of non-smoking companions of smokers had lungs similar to smokers. “Many of them (non-smokers) were surprised that their (carbon monoxide) levels were between 8 to 11, which is a light to regular smoker,” he said. “But, this is the effect of spending time with smoking friends in smoky environments.” According to Dr Gabir, the worst example of secondary smoking effects had to be a 10-year-old girl he encountered in 2005, who recorded a carbon monoxide level of 18. “Her parents smoked sheesha at home and she breathed in the air,” he said.

want smoking to be banned in public places

40%

of the children who tried cigarettes before the age of 14 got hooked

25%

of UAE children smoked their first cigarette before the age of 10

Yara Massouh, Syria 29, media coordinator

“I started smoking when I was 19 and had a cigarette every two days. I realised I wanted to stop smoking when my two-year-old daughter took a cigarette from my handbag and wanted to put it in her mouth. I stopped smoking at home, and now I will only smoke one cigarette in the company of friends. But I have completely stopped buying them now.” — Mariam M. Al Serkal, Staff Reporter

19.5%

SMOKER

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4 HEART DISEASE One out of three deaths in the world is due to cardiovascular diseases. Smoking is one of the biggest risk factors for developing cardiovascular diseases. These diseases kill more than a million people a year in developing countries. Smoking-related cardiovascular diseases kill more than 600,000 people each year in developed countries. Smoking makes the heart beat faster, raises blood pressure and increases the risk of hypertension and clogged arteries, and eventually causes heart attacks and strokes.

5 CANCER Smokers are some 20 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers. Smoking causes about 90% of lung cancers in men and 80% in women, and according to many studies, the longer one smokes, the greater the risk of developing cancers at several sites; stomach; pancreas (2 to 4 times) and kidney. Some recent studies have also suggested a link between heavy smoking and breast cancer, and smoking cessation substantially reduces the risk for most of the above-mentioned smoking related cancers.

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REPRODUCTIVE Men: Smoking reduces sperm density and their motility, increasing the risk for infertility. Females:Greater risk for stillbirth, prematurity, and low-birth weight. (Infant mortality rates in pregnant smokers are increased by 33%. The good news is that women who quit before becoming pregnant or even during the first trimester reduce the risk for a low birth weight baby to that of women who never smoked.)

6 STOMACH ULCERS

Smoking reduces resistance to the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers. It also impairs the stomach’s ability to neutralise acid after a meal, leaving the acid to eat away the stomach lining. started smoking to experiment Smokers’ ulcers are harder to treat and more and appear more mature likely to recur.

80%

of the children were able to buy cigarettes

44%

of girls had problems with friends, home and school

18% use other forms of tobacco

Cigarette chemicals Acetone (solvent) Ammonia (detergent, chemical found in urine) Methanol (used as rocket fuel) Naphtalene (moth-repelent) Nicotine (used as a herbicide and insecticide) Cadmium (used in batteries) DDT (insecticide) Vinyl chloride (used in plastic materials) Carbon monoxide (found in exhaust fumes) Toluene (industrial solvent) Source: www.who.int/tobacco

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cigarettes contain about 4,000 chemicals, including more than 50 cancer-causing agents. The warning also applies to sheesha, which contains “numerous toxicants known to cause lung cancer, heart disease and other diseases” and exposes a person to more smoke over a long period of time. Exposure to second-hand smoke causes heart disease and many serious respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. It also causes diseases and worsens existing conditions, such as asthma, in children. L. Chumpitaz/©Gulf News

Design by S.M.ARSHAD/©Gulf News

1 to 9 MONTHS