Govt spent Rs 702.5 crore for smoking-related illness

Govt spent Rs 702.5 crore for smoking-related illness

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, April 25, 2015:  In a media interaction with media, Institute of Public Health, Nodal Agency, Home Department Advocacy Officer, Dr John Kennedy said expenditure on smoking-related diseases in Karnataka for the year 2011 was about Rs 702.5 crore compared to Rs 280.4 crore on other tobacco related diseases.

 Dr. Kennedy also said about 19 % of tobacco consumption in India is in the form of cigarettes, while 53 per cent is smoked as beedis. While beedis are an extremely cheap alternative to cigarettes, the health hazards of both are comparable. In fact, beedis are an equally dangerous tobacco product with huge impact on public health.

TII centre, A J Institute of Dental Sciences president Dr Vijaya Hegde said that, tar levels delivered by beedis are high. A study found that beedis produced approximately three times the amount of carbon monoxide and nicotine and approximately five times the amount of tar as cigarettes.

Beedis are harmful not only to the users but also those who roll them. Reports from as early as the 1970s relate the concerns of trade union leaders in Maharashtra that 50% of beedi workers eventually died from tuberculosis or asthma.

District Health Officer Dr Surendra Chinbalkar said in Karnataka, of the 11.9 per cent adults who smoke, about 8.3 per cent smoke beedis. Beedi puffing is hard on the lungs because of the relatively low combustibility and non-porous nature of the tendu leaves requiring more frequent and deeper puffs by the smoker to keep beedis lit. TII centre, A J Institute of Dental Sciences vice president Dr Shubhan Alva said while tobacco control measures were in place to control the menace, what is needed more is the awareness among the masses.  Those elders consuming beedis should think about the younger generation and the problem they could land in because of the beedi consumption. Poor man’s cigarette (beedis) is the most expensive burden on the masses.

The beedi industry is male-dominated, where the manufacturer, the contractor and the consumers are male and only the beedi rollers are female. Beedi and smokeless tobacco together account for 81 per cent of the national tobacco consumer market, but contribute only 12 per cent of the excise taxes.

Karnataka is one among only six states in the entire nation that has 0% VAT on beedis. Our neighbouring states like Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa and Tamil Nadu have beedi VAT in the range of 12.5 - 22 per cent.

According to a study done by Sudarshan and Kaur, roughly ten percent of all female beedi workers and five percent of male beedi workers are under 14 years of age.  In DK and  Mangaluru region of Karnataka, the beedi industry engages over 10 lakh (1,000,000) labourers, predominantly women, but 25,000 to 30,000 are children.