Tobacco-related cancer cases on rise, says survey

Chennai: Despite numerous initiatives on creating awareness against the use of tobacco products, Chennai is among top five districts with the highest number of smokers in Tamil Nadu, according to Tamil Nadu Tobacco Survey 2015-16 released by the Cancer Institute.

The surge in Tobacco-Related Cancer (TRC) cases every year is the main concern of medicos and as per the report, an estimated number of 2.40 lakh people above 15 years of age use tobacco in any of the forms in Chennai.
 Dr R, Swaminathan, head of epidemiology at the Cancer Institute, said, “There are around 16,500 TRC cases that have been reported this year, which are 4,000 more cases than last year. Increase in TRC cases over the years, even after increased awareness is alarming.”

The latest survey by the Cancer Institute shows a decline in the number of people willing to quit tobacco. As per the survey, there is only one in every seven smokers willing to quit. The number of smokeless tobacco users who planned to quit is even less, the report says.

The data clearly show that the awareness campaigns, anti-tobacco lobbying and several restrictions on the usage of tobacco have failed to serve their purpose. Dr Anitha Ramesh, the senior oncologist at Apollo Specialty Hospitals, attributes the factors to easy availability of tobacco products.

“The production of tobacco products should be stopped to reduce their easy availability. Instead of just issuing warnings and regulations in public and workplaces, these should be strictly implemented,” she said. The government has adopted various methods and imposed rules for a tobacco-free environment, but medicos also suggest that socioeconomic factors should also be considered.
 Dr G. R. Ravindranath of Doctors’ Association for Social Equality says, “Socioeconomic factors such as poverty, peer pressure, depression and unemployment are the major reasons why people take to tobacco. If efforts are taken to curb these factors, the usage of tobacco can decrease, especially among youngsters”.

Doctors say that passive smoking is among the various reasons for TRC in women and youngsters. This can be curbed only if people take efforts  to quit smoking in the public,

For cancer control

As per Tamil Nadu Tobacco Survey, the priorities for effective cancer control are:
 Primary prevention domain – launching of public education campaigns on tobacco cessation, both smoking and smokeless tobacco habits
Secondary prevention domain – screening and early detection among high-risk individuals
Tertiary prevention domain – Resources for curative and palliative care for locally advanced cancer