Dangers of smoking !
Photo: Gazi Nafis Ahmed / driknews
Recently the US experts reported that “Smoking” is one of the major reasons why Americans do not live as long as the French or Japanese do because smoking reduces life expectancy. Both active and passive smoking is harmful to almost every organ of the human body and contributes to the creation of many diseases which ultimately damages health and reduces life expectancy. As compared with non-smokers, smokers have greater risks of developing lung cancer, chronic obstructive lung diseases, coronary heart diseases, stroke, and etcetera. Smoking also causes cancer of kidney, esophagus, stomach, uterus, cervix, etc. Unfortunately the trend of smoking in the developed countries is declining but in the developing countries including Bangladesh, it is rising. Even school-going students in Bangladesh have developed the bad habit of smoking. Moreover children working in workshops, mills and factories are also found smoking freely. I strongly feel that the government should take more pragmatic steps to stop smoking. Educational institutions have to undertake special programmes to help students quit smoking and to keep others who haven't yet switched on to smoking at bay. One statistics indicates that the revenue earning from tobacco products is less than the amount of money spend to treat tobacco related diseases. I think the government should impose a total ban on tobacco cultivation and import of cigarettes plus other tobacco products. Airport authorities should seize and destroy cartoon of cigarettes brought even for personal consumption.
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