A straight 'No' to tobacco

Drive against tobacco by school kids

On one side where smoking is a style statement for youth these days, the younger generation is also becoming aware of the ill-effects of tobacco.

To show their concern towards the cause, children from 12 schools in Delhi got together at Naval Public School, Chanakyapuri and displayed handmade posters. The winning posters will be displayed at WHO on occasion of World No-Tobacco Day 2012 on May 31.

The endeavour to celebrate World No-Tobacco Day in an unconventional style was organized by Indian Cancer Society (ICS) where children participated in a poster making and skit competition on the topic of ‘Tobacco Industry Interference’. 

These competitions were judged by Dr Damodar Bachani (Head of Community Medicine, Lady Hardinge Medical College), Vineet Gill Munish (WHO Consultant on Tobacco Control), Mira Aghi (Terry Luther Medal winner), Amal Pusp (Director, MoH&FW) and social worker Usha Jain. Though the results are awaited, the students enjoyed being a part of the celebration that spread the message.

From the winning team of NC Jindal Public School, Akshay Kapoor, Std XII student shared, “Our skit was based on students who think that smoking is cool and to make them realise that this is not true. We also tried to focus on children forced to smoke by peers.” The slogan printed on his team’s T-Shirts: “if you can’t stop smoking, cancer will,” grabbed attention and appreciation of all.

Sunita Gupta, event coordinator, Indian Cancer Society informed Metrolife, the reason behind organising a skit as against an essay competition, “We had been organising essay writing for the 15 years. But for the last six years, we have been organising skit competitions because we realised that the message sent through skits had more impact on the minds of children who are our future ambassadors. Therefore, we decided to spread awareness among children and avoid them from falling prey to tobacco.” A similar opinion was shared by Jyotsna Govil, secretary, Indian Cancer Society, “It is necessary that young children are actively .

involved. It is important for the youngsters to understand the tricks of the tobacco industry and beware of falling into the trap of this addiction.”

The children present on the occasion highlighted gruesome facts such as tobacco causes 5 lakh cases of cancers of lung and oral cavity each year, and this increasing number is fuelled by the Tobacco industry’s insidious policy of interference in influencing policy makers. No other product so successfully sells death and disease when used exactly as its manufacturer intends.