The disclaimer on packets of cigarettes and tobacco products - ‘smoking is injurious to health and tobacco use is injurious to health’ - appears to have had little impact on people in the State.
Following the 2009-10 Global Adult Tobacco survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), wherein Karnataka saw 28.2 per cent of its adults using tobacco, it is said that the State spent Rs 983 crore in a year to treat tobacco-related diseases as per a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Across the country, the WHO survey had recorded that 34.6 per cent of adults use tobacco, with 14 per cent of them using cigarettes. In Karnataka, 12 per cent of the adults have been recorded as smokers, with another 19 per cent using smokeless tobacco. Further, 44 per cent of the adults were exposed to second-hand smoke at home.
These alarming statistics, coupled with the massive financial burden on the State for treating patients with tobacco-related diseases, have forced the State government to start an awareness campaign for dissuading people from using tobacco.
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