Many of us must have heard the joke. Although hackneyed, its so-called punchline has a special appeal for smokers. The joke goes like this: Young anti-smoking activist tells an elderly gentleman that by saving the money that he has spent on smoking, he could have built a beautiful house. The man wears a sarcastic smile and points to a bungalow across the river, "Look, that house belongs to me."
Smokers usually circulate the joke to defend their stance on not giving up smoking. Anti-smoking gags are also many. But it is wise to face the stark reality, without dabbling in digressive and deceptive arguments.
Latest research findings say, without mincing words, that smoking is one of the major causes of fatal heart and lung ailments. Nicotine, which is the main culprit behind tobacco addiction, turns out to be a carcinogen in human body. It is the 'passive smokers' who usually fall victim to the nicotine-laden smoke. However, cigarettes do not necessarily make one a cancer patient. Many people survive for long despite being chronic smokers.
Still, one needs not take solace from these isolated cases. That cigarettes or tobacco products eventually invite many a health hazard and lead to untimely deaths is axiomatic. Apart from the direct health-related harms it brings to mankind today, the habit of smoking is now a metonymy for pollution -- be it in the family confines, at a public place or even in the open.
In Bangladesh, commercial advertisement for smoking is prohibited. Both print and the electronic media strictly abide by the ban. Packets of cigarettes have to demonstrate the warning: "Smoking causes lung cancer." Large hoardings showing relaxed or 'meditative' smokers have long disappeared.
All this speaks of positive signs in the campaign aimed at discouraging smoking. Undoubtedly, we have visibly made progresses in the battle against tobacco addiction. A lot of people have kicked the habit of smoking. But the tale does not end here. The story is long indeed. Where are the much-touted rules, which were supposed to be in force to punish the breakers of 'smoking prevention laws'?
Seemingly, the Dhaka metropolis chokes in tobacco smoke and its odour, which fills the widely used rooms, enclosures and compounds at any government or semi-government entity. Go to the Kamalapur Railway Station or the Sadarghat launch terminal in the capital. You'll find yourself gasping for tobacco smoke-free fresh air, if you happen to be a non-smoker.
There are also a few brighter sides to the whole scenario. Due to a rise in awareness, bus passengers no longer smoke during travel. Railway compartments have become smoke-free areas. Nobody smokes inside the airport. Barring these spots, and a handful of others, the air in all public places reeks of burning tobacco. You start walking by a quiet sidewalk beside the Ramna Park. It will not take much time before someone coming from the opposite direction, burning cigarette in hand, goes past you spewing out a mouthful of stale smoke right on your face. Gossiping youths taking long puffs from their fags and releasing the smoke on elderly people nonchalantly are a common sight in the city. The lobbies of five-star or posh hotels and guest houses have been declared non-smoking zones in the country; but not the mid-level ones, or the cheap restaurants. They get along with the smoking clients as they have been for long.
It is difficult to wean the general people from smoking overnight. But deterrents applied by the government can go a long way in fighting the menace. The government has woken up to the hazards of smoking, and stepped into the traditionally free domain of the cigarette manufacturers. It has been increasing taxes on tobacco products every year.
Yet it is pathetically failing to enforce the law that prohibits smoking in public.
shihabskr@ymail.com
