World No Tobacco Day was celebrated on 31^st May all over India by various state partners with support from Consumer Voice. To celebrate this day workshops and rallies were organized in Bhopal, MP to generate awareness and risks associated with tobacco consumption.

The National Centre for Human Settlements & Environment with support from  Consumer VOICE organised a workshop to mark the“WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY on the theme – Let’s Stop This Cancer Killing” at Hotel Vigya Shree, Bhopal.  The main objective of the workshop was to spread awareness about ill effects of tobacco and the role of government and people.

The workshop highlighted the fact that in India about 10 lakh people die every year due to tobacco use, of which majority are bidi consumers. The mean age of tobacco users is 17.9 years, i.e majority are minors. In Madhya Pradesh about 39% people consume tobacco and each day about 300 children start smoking or using tobacco.

Panellist, Dr Shailendra Patne, Deputy Director, National Health Mission shared his experience on how to get relief from tobacco addiction.  He asserted that smoking or chewing tobacco leads to cancer, the treatment of which being costly devastates the economy of the family. It affects the both rich and the poor, but the impact is more on the poor.  Thus poverty enters the family due to consumption of tobacco. 

A few short films demonstrating the impact of tobacco consumption on human health were shown to the audience.