No Smoking Day Reminder: India has 12 crore smokers: Dr Purohit
Smoking worsens lung function and reduces immunity.
Our specialist on Community Health issues, Dr. Naresh Purohit* addresses a Seminar in Udaipur, on Smoking and underlined the need to shun this ‘Fatal Hobby’
Udaipur/ New Delhi: Principal Investigator for National Tobacco Control Programme,
Dr. Naresh Purohit* voices his concern and disclosed that India has about 12 crore smokers.
Smoking is thus an epidemic and a great public health threat, killing over eight million people around the year.
Over seven million of these people die due to direct tobacco use, and 1.2 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke.
Voicing his concern to the reporters here after addressing a seminar on “Smoking Kills” organised by the Udaipur based Geetanjali Cancer Center on the occasion of No Smoking Day. Advisor – National Caner Control Programme, Dr Purohit averred that India has graduated from a low-income country into a developed country, and is estimated to have 120 million smokers (out of a population of 138 crores), or about 9% of Indian people.This needs to be drastically reduced, in light of public health.
Noted Epidemiologist Dr Purohit pointed that as per the estimates of WHO 1.3 billion people (among the 7.9 billion across the world) who smoke, and 80% of them live in low and middle- income countries.
And, as per the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, traditional cigarette smokers are 30% to 40% more likely than non-smokers to develop Type 2 diabetes.
“Smoking worsens lung function and reduces immunity. ” he added.
Renowned Preventive Oncology expert cautioned that
smoking can lead to ongoing complications and long-term effects on our body systems.
It can cause long-term negative effects on the body, including heart disease, lung cancer, oral cancers of tongue, pharynx and larynx , and diabetes.
He revealed that according to the recent study of Tata Cancer Hospital, Mumbai, one million deaths are due to smoking with over 2,00,000 due to secondhand smoke exposure, and over 35,000 are due 
to smokeless tobacco use.
“Nearly 27 per cent of all cancers in India are due to tobacco usage. The total direct and indirect cost of diseases attributable to tobacco use was a staggering Rs 1.82 crore which is nearly 1.8 per cent of India’s GDP.”he added.
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*Dr. Naresh Purohit-MD, DNB, DIH, MHA, MRCP(UK), is an Epidemiologist, 
and Advisor-National Communicable Disease Control Program of Govt. of India, Madhya Pradesh and several state organizations.)
Dr. Purohit is also an advisor, Indian Hospital Administration.
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