India facing smoking death crisis (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

One million people a year will die from tobacco smoking in India during the 2010s, research predicts.

The New England Journal of Medicine study found smoking already accounts for 900,000 deaths a year in India.

The study warns that without action, the death toll from smoking will climb still further.

It predicts smoking could soon account for 20% of all male deaths and 5% of all female deaths between the ages of 30 and 69.

The researchers have calculated that on average, men who smoke bidi - small hand-rolled cigarettes common in India - lose about six years of life.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7239722.stm

:wow::wow::wow: And I thought the Chinese approach to population control was harsh!

(Be sure to read the last para of the article!)

[juno jones]

1. Bidis may or may not be 100% tobacco

There are often adulterants and questionable herbs used such as datura species. Not that Marlboros are that much safer, but there's a lot more quality control involved.

Regularly smoking somthing laced with datura is certainly going to set you up for heart and lung problems. And pretty quickly too.

edit to add: Many Clove cigarettes are bidis. Not good for you either.

[whistle]

2. Alcoholism and drug addition with related lethal illnesses are also running rampant

...among Indians just like in the west

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. What about the last paragraph?

It doesn't seem unusual.

Jean King, director of tobacco control at Cancer Research UK, said India could learn from the UK, where falling smoking rates over the last 30 years have coincided with the world's biggest drop in deaths from lung cancer, particularly among men.

:shrug:

[FreeStateDemocrat]

4. Could national health care in the UK have been a contributory factor to reducing the death rate?