Punjab now "tobacco-free State" !

Chewing tobacco and spitting on the walls may soon be a thing of past in Punjab. For, the Punjab Government has banned the sale of tobacco products in the State-

Besides, any other food product containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredient, by whatsoever name available in the market, has also been banned.

The State Government on Monday banned the sale, storage, manufacture and distribution of tobacco product — gutkha, pan masala etc in the State from the date of issuance of notification in this regard.

Already, the State Government has banned the sale and consumption of gutkha and pan masala in four districts, namely, Ropar, Mohali, Amritsar and Mansa. And the tag of 'tobacco free' will now not be restricted to the districts only as the entire state will now become 'tobacco-free State'.

With this, Punjab is set to become the fifth State in the country to impose a ban on the sale of gutkha and pan masala. The States of Maharashtra, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have already achieved the tag of 'tobacco-free States'.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had cleared the file on Monday morning approving the proposal of the State Health and Family Welfare department for banning gutkha and pan masala in the larger interest of public health.

The Health department had proposed that tobacco products be banned across State as the chewing of gutkha, pan masala and other tobacco products was a potent health hazard. It was also responsible for deadly disease of cancer especially of the mouth and throat. The ban was imposed following formulation of a policy on banning gutkha in consultation with the state cancer control. Also, the doctors of the School of Public Health and Department of Community Medicine of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh are assisting the government in overcoming the hurdles that could come in the way of enforcing the ban.

As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, 2009-2010, 12 per cent people in the state consume tobacco and 6.5 per cent adults chew tobacco products.

Tobacco usage sky rocketing in developing nations

Tobacco use is massively entrenched in developing countries, where one of the biggest worries is the rise of smoking among women, according to a study published in The Lancet.

A survey of 16 countries that are home to three billion people found that 48.6 per cent of all men and 11.3 per cent of women are tobacco users, especially in poorer economies, where more girls are starting to smoke early and often at the same age as boys.

The data trawl covered a survey of tobacco habits among people aged over 15 in Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam, as well as Britain, Poland, Russia and the United States, from 2008 to 2010.

The surveys covered smoking as well as chewing tobacco — an oral carcinogenic that is especially popular in India, with 205 million users — and snuff.

Topping the table was Russia, where 39.1 per cent of all over —15s used tobacco, followed by Turkey (31.2 per cent), Poland (30.3 per cent), the Philippines (28.2 per cent) and China with 28.1 per cent.

By comparison, prevalence in Britain was 21.7 per cent and 19.9 per cent in the United States.

Policies to discourage or restrict tobacco use are few and flawed in many countries, according to the study, headed by Gary Giovino from the University at Buffalo in New York state.

In low-income countries, for every $9,100 received in tobacco taxes, only $1 was spent on tobacco control.

At present, the proportion of deaths from tobacco is greatest in rich countries, where 18 per cent of deaths are attributable to tobacco use, compared with 11 per cent in middle-income countries and four per cent in low-income countries.

But smoking rates have been rising steadily in poorer countries and falling in rich ones, so these positions are likely to change, the study said.

 On current trends, as many as a billion people could die prematurely from tobacco use during this century, the study said, citing estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO) experts.

                So, at last i want to say either break this or continue it..

a request to government to grow up !!

wtf...what' going on...
religious voilence everywhere...and its increasing
first assam, second mumbai & now what else to see...????
officially 77 is dead in assam voilence, 11 missing and more than 4lakhs are displaced
and in mumbai recently 2 dead in voilence and 45 injured..

Hey god...give them mind, who don't mind....i.e., our government & people of india..
now it' time to take serious action by govt....otherwise its too late.. things to do:
1) resolve all issues or disputes on land or whatever..
2) give everyone safety..
3) find culprits and put them behind bars...and then do media coverage..
4) and don't be so kind to reffusse

it' time to grow up to govt....otherwise they don't get  chance to grow up.... ovioulsy people kikked them....
as they are unable to do their basic task.....peace, which is more imp. to shleter, food & clothes

our govt...now really need to become mature enough to take care off every body......regardless of their religion,sex,age
not to play polytics everywhere....

its time to see what is wrong and what is right.......plz

Are you being specifically targeted by mosquitoes?

Blame it on your skin bacteria type:

Blame skin microbes for mosquito bites that pester you and also transmit the malaria parasite.

These microbes play a key role in producing individual body odours which attract these insects. This finding opens the way to develop personalised methods for malaria prevention.

The researchers, led by Niels Verhulst of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, conducted their experiments with the Anopheles mosquito, which plays an important role in malaria transmission, the journal Public library of Science ONE reports.

They found that people with a higher abundance but lower diversity of bacteria on their skin were more attractive to this particular mosquito, according to a university statement.

The speculation is that individuals with more diverse skin microbiota may be instrumental in making them less attractive to these pesky insects, and therefore lower risk to contracting malaria.

Insomnia spreading in third world countries:

The first ever African and Asian study of sleep problems has thrown up some startling Istatistics. 1 out of every 20 Indian suffers from sleep disorders. For years, sleep disorders was thought to be a western-developed world problem but this study has debunked that myth. Indian women (6.5%) outnumber men (4.3%), when it comes to disturbed sleep. Sleep disorders are usually linked to mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Around 4% Indian men who reported severe/extreme nocturnal sleep problems suffered from severe depression, while 3% reported severe anxiety.  The stats were similar for women (3.79% reporting severe depression and 2.8% suffering from severe anxiety).

The research conducted by the Warwick Medical School analysed the sleep quality of 24,434 women and 19,501 men — aged 50 years and above — in eight rural global locations like Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia and Kenya.

The survey also suggested 16% of the population suffered from insomnia in the countries surveyed, not far from the 20% that suffer from insomnia in the West.

The findings suggest that sleeplessness epidemic affects an estimated 150 million in developing world.

In 20 years, over 260 million people will experience sleep disorders. “Therefore, these estimates suggest that sleep disturbances may represent a significant and unrecognized problem among older people in low-income settings. These findings further emphasize the global dimension of sleep problems as an emerging public health issue,” said the study.

 Lead author Dr Saverio Stranges from the University of Warwick Medical School told TOI, “We estimate that 5%-6% of people aged 50 years and above may be affected by sleep disorders in India. Sleep problems and associated psychiatric co-morbidities like depression and anxiety and reduced quality of life may represent an important factor in these epidemiological trends.”

He added, “Our study recommends that sleep patterns be included in assessing an individual’s overall health. It also says lifestyle changes should be considered before prescribing medication.” 

Sleep disorders like disturbed sleeping and snoring are being recognised as high risk factors for metabolic diseases. Obese people who suffer from sleep apnea are likelier to suffer from hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular problems and cholesterol issues. Various studies have also shown that sleep disorders can seriously affect everyday efficiency and longevity.

Global 'sleeplessness epidemic' affects 150 million adults in developing world :

A new study has revealed that levels of sleep problems in the developing world are far higher than previously thought and are approaching those seen in developed nations, linked to an increase in problems like depression and anxiety.

An estimated 150 million adults are suffering from sleep-related problems across the developing world, according to the first ever pan-African and Asian analysis of sleep problems, led by Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick.

Warwick Medical School researchers have found a rate of 16.6 per cent of the population reporting insomnia and other severe sleep disturbances in the countries surveyed – close to the 20 per cent found in the general adult population in the West, according to nationwide surveys in Canada and the US.

The researchers, which also included academics from the INDEPTH Network in Ghana and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, looked at the sleep quality of 24,434 women and 19,501 men aged 50 years and over in eight locations in rural populations in Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia, and an urban area in Kenya.

They examined potential links between sleep problems and social demographics, quality of life, physical health and psychiatric conditions.

The strongest link was found between psychiatric conditions like depression and anxiety and sleep problems, mirroring trends seen in the developed world.

There was striking variation across the countries surveyed – Bangladesh, South Africa and Vietnam had extremely high levels of sleep problems, in some cases surpassing Western sleeplessness rates.

However India and Indonesia reported relatively low levels of severe sleep problems.

The research also found a higher prevalence of sleep problems in women and older age groups, consistent with patterns found in higher income countries.

“Our research shows the levels of sleep problems in the developing world are far higher than previously thought,” said Dr Saverio Stranges, the leading author of the manuscript at Warwick Medical School.

Bangladesh had the highest prevalence of sleep problems among the countries analysed – with a 43.9% rate for women – more than twice the rate of developed countries and far higher than the 23.6% seen in men. Bangladesh also saw very high patterns of anxiety and depression.

Vietnam too had very high rates of sleep problems – 37.6% for women and 28.5% for men.

Meanwhile in African countries, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana saw rates of between 8.3% and 12.7%.

However South Africa had double the rate of the other African countries – 31.3% for women and 27.2% for men.

India and Indonesia both had very low prevalence of sleep issues – 6.5% for Indian women and 4.3% for Indian men. Indonesian men reported rates of sleep problems of 3.9% and women had rates of 4.6%.

The results are published in a study in the journal Sleep.