Smoking increases the risk of contracting the pandemic, says Dr. Murali Krishna Voonna, Senior Surgical Oncologist and MD, Mahatma Gandhi Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, Visakhapatnam.
Tobacco chewing increases the urge to spit eight times, and since COVID-19 is an airborne disease, the chances of spreading it by spitting in public places are very high. The COVID-19 can cause severe infections and high mortality rates in smokers with poor lungs and low pulmonary immunity, he said.
During the lockdown, indoor smoking increases the chances of secondhand smoke among family members, said Dr. Murali Krishna in a statement on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day. The theme for 2021 is “Commit to quit”.
He appealed to all smokers to use the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to stop smoking and chewing tobacco.
Tobacco use is a major preventable cause of premature death and illness worldwide. Almost 80 lakhs worldwide, including 12 in India, die each year as a result of tobacco use. It kills half the people who use it. India is the second largest producer and consumer of tobacco products. Tobacco accounts for 7% of deaths in the 30+ age group. The total economic cost attributable to tobacco use through all diseases and deaths is more than 1 lakh crore, which is a huge burden on our country, he said.
Tobacco affects all systems and is an important etiological factor in NCD (non-communicable diseases) such as cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular accidents, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, etc. More than 20% of the world’s tuberculosis cases are due to smoking. Secondhand smoke affects children, family and friends.
Tobacco smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, around 100 of which have been shown to be carcinogenic. It’s never too late to quit smoking, says KS Phaneendra Kumar, a pulmonologist at KIMS ICON Hospital. People who quit have many benefits, he adds.