Did you know that 8.3 percent of Indian girls between 13-15 years have some form of tobacco? The figures are important as World No Tobacco Day is experiential Monday with an emphasis on advertising of tobacco to women.
"Young girls are a significant target for the tobacco industry, they try to hook young women in publicity," Bhavna Mukhopadhayay, director of the NGO, Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), told IANS.
"Ads that are Fiama Di Wills bring a well-known cigarette brand. Some ads in magazines that tell girls who smoke may be slim and alluring.
May 31 is characterized by the WHO World No Tobacco Day and this year's theme is "Gender and tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women".
In India, the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to persons fewer than 18 prohibited. But the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2009 for India showed that 8.3 percent of girls in the 13-15 year-olds eat any form of tobacco. About 2.4 percent of girls eating cigarettes and 7.2 per cent eat other tobacco products.
A new WHO report, "Women and Health: Evidence today, tomorrow's agenda, said tobacco advertising is increasingly targeted at girls.
Data from 151 countries show that about seven percent of teenage girls smoke cigarettes as opposed to 12 percent of young boys. In some countries, which equals the number of girls who smoke cigarettes, of boys?
Many girls in Indian cities who smoke find it "cool". Economically active women cite pressures, stress at home and at work and odd working hours as reasons. More girls aged between 15 and 20 frequent hookah bars for fun and 'relaxation'.
While owners of hookah bars hotly deny breaking the law, small set of wind inside.
"About 10 popular hookah bars working in Delhi alone, and many ask their customers for proof of age," says Ashok Srivatsav, a Hookah producer.
But Komala Sharma, 15, a frequent guest at the hookah bars in Delhi, said: "I often go with friends at a hookah bar in Vasant Vihara but nobody asks me for ID proof."
A gynecologist notes that diseases such as chronic bronchitis and even cancer of the urinary bladder or stomach can be caused by smoking water pipes.
Grant, an employee at a hookah bar, 'flavored water pipe contains nicotine and many young people start smoking habits with it. Schoolchildren, particularly girls, often those locations. "
As per National Family Health Survey (NFHS), over 54 million women using some form of tobacco. Apart from smoking, women in India, especially from rural areas, use snuff products gutka, paan masala with tobacco, mishri and yellow.
Many unwittingly become victims of tobacco.
"While many girls using tobacco as a fad or for relaxation, many rural women working as beedi rollers for hours and suffer from tobacco-related diseases," said Mukhopadhayay.
"Some that are over four million women beedi rollers and two million tendu leaf tear in India. Handling and inhaling tobacco dust and volatile components in tobacco puts them in a high risk of cancer, chronic lung diseases, tuberculosis, asthma and adverse gynecological problems, letshe added.
Margaret Chan, Director of the WHO, to comment on report, says: "Protect and promote health for women is important for health and development - not only for citizens today, but also for future generations."
