Saturday, January 05, 2008 Maxey: A death every 6.6 seconds By Ram Maxey Bar None
EVERY end of the year for sometime now, my column here had invariably touched on the evils of tobacco products to my fellow human beings. I wouldn't know about their effects on our friends in the animal kingdom, though. Do they also contract cancer, for example?
But I didn't want to spoil people's anticipation of the coming New Year with depressing statistics on what smoking does to one who has been caught in the vise-like grip of tobacco addiction. Well, Christmas is over and the New Year simply crept in almost unnoticed in the "deafening silence" of this city (where had all the firecrackers gone?).
Just the other day, when I was feeling out of sorts, I went to see our family doctor at the Limso Memorial Hospital for a checkup. In the hospital lobby, hanging from a wall, was a large colored illustration depicting a human being showing the effects of various tobacco-related ailments. The surrealistic drawing stopped me in my tracks. Appearing with the drawing was the following printed text, which I meticulously jotted down:
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that every 6.6 seconds, someone around the world dies from tobacco use. People who start smoking in their teens (70 percent) and continue for two decades or more will die 20 to 25 years earlier than those who never light up. It is not just lung cancer or heart disease that cause serious health problems and death:
1. Hair loss
2. Cataracts
3. Wrinkling
4. Hearing loss
5. Cancer
6. Tooth decay
7. Emphysema
8. Osteoporosis
9. Heart disease
10. Stomach ulcers
11. Discolored fingers
12. Uterine cancer/miscarriage
13. Deformed sperm (how's that again?)
14. Psoriasis
15. Buerger's disease (can lead to gangrene)
If the foregoing doesn't scare you (as a smoker), then nothing else will. But I didn't make up that list, the WHO did. You may take it, or leave it. The WHO also warns us that the trend among the youth (teenagers) is alarming. If you can't break your vice, perhaps you can help dissuade the youngsters around you (siblings, relatives, friends) from taking up the habit. According to WHO, one out of every three Filipino youth age 13 to 15 years is a smoker. That's a bleak picture. It didn't use to be, but it is now.
