Stub it out before it’s late

Tobacco awareness drive launched in Namma city

Bengaluru: Observing World No Tobacco Day with the theme of ‘Tobacco: Threat to our Environment’, BBMP Special Health Commissioner Dr Thrilok Chandra launched an awareness campaign to educate the public about the harms of tobacco use on people, on the environment and second-hand smoking.
The awareness campaign comprises an auto campaign which will involve playing a dedicated message across the city for the duration of three weeks along with radio talk shows in order to create awareness.
These campaigns are organised in collaboration with the Vital Strategies under ‘Partnership for Healthy Cities – Smoke-Free Bengaluru Initiative’. Also, four mobile vehicles with counsellors will create awareness in schools and colleges and provide de-addiction services in the identified localities for two weeks.
While launching the campaign Dr Thirlok Chandra said: “On every cigarette and bidi packet, there is a victim’s picture emphasising the message that tobacco use is harmful to us and leads to suffering and death. But many people are not aware that tobacco use is killing our environment too. Thousands of trees are cut to procure tobacco leaves every year. Six to seven kgs of fuelwood and 12 kg of dried wood are required to procure one kg of tobacco, resulting in the decline in forest cover”.