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EDITORIALS: Ichiro Kawachi More evidence on the risks of passive smoking BMJ 2005; 330: 265-266 [Full text]

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Health Education--Essential step in controlling smoking and lung cancers

Riddhi Doshi   (5 February 2005)

Health Education--Essential step in controlling smoking and lung cancers 5 February 2005
Riddhi Doshi, doctor(intern) Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Hospital,Mumbai. zip code-400022 Send response to journal: Re: Health Education--Essential step in controlling smoking and lung cancers	The causal relationship of smoking and lung cancers is the most widely studied one in history. However no amount of measures seem to curb this vice. One of the reasons for this is that youth icons of the present times including movie stars and pop singers seem to indirectly inspire the younger generations by smoking in public or in their movies or any public appearance. I realize it is not possible to completely deny appearance of a cigarette on the television or any other kind of media. However health education and a more motivated and intense campaign of increasing the public awareness might help. Banning of smoking in public places or restriction on advertisements have not helped in reducing the incidence of lung cancer in smokers as well as nonsmokers. The other ailments related to smoking should not be ignored. For example, smoking is the main cause of chronic obstructive lung disease, which is a very morbid condition and has a great impact on lung age of the individual. The Forced expiratory volume in 1-second (FEV1) of every individual reduces after he reaches a certain age. In a normal individual it reduces by 20-25ml each year. However in smokers it reduces by more than 75ml per year. This leads to a smoker's lung having a much higher lung age than any other individual. So we can say that a smoker's lung is much older than a normal individual's lung. Cigarette smoking has a lot of oxidants, which are usually considered one of the contributing factors for aging. It is clear that smoking is a slow means of self-harm associated with psychological as well physical dependence and a smoker is eligible for not only medical but also psychiatric help. However this is considered only when the harm has been done. Here I would like to repeat the old saying, "Prevention is better than cure" and add that most of the ill effects of smoking have no cure. Competing interests: None declared