One in every three adults in Karnataka consumes tobacco. One in every two men and one in six women in the state are addicted to tobacco, which is known to cause cancer. These are the findings from The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), Karnataka.
The state has over 1.5 crore tobacco users, states the survey released by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Tuesday. “This is alarmingly high, posing a huge risk to public health in the state,” Dr Vishal Rao, Director, Cancer Prevention Project, Institute of Public Health. Also, more than 44% of adults are exposed to passive smoking at home, while more than 33% of adults are exposed to passive smoking at public places, GATS stated.
To cut down the use of tobacco, the state government had implemented the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003 that prohibits smoking at public places, sale of tobacco to (and by) minors, mandates pictorial warnings on tobacco products and prohibits all forms of tobacco advertising. “Tobacco is one of the world’s leading causes of death and disability, killing more than 1 million people in India annually. Tobacco contains more than 60 cancer-causing substances and 4,000 chemicals, which are severely detrimental to health. Even exposure of non-smokers to smoke from cigarette or beedi smokers, what is called passive smoking, also poses serious risk,” said Dr Rao.
“GATS is a highly reliable and standardised mechanism of monitoring tobacco use among adult population (15 years and above) across countries. GATS is the first-ever, large-scale survey conducted in the state,” said Dr Rao. In India, GATS has been supported by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with technical support form the World Health Organisation, Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention, the John Hopkins School of Public Health and RTI International.