Anti-Tobacco Talk On Community Radio by Md Imran Ali Aired In 19 States

Bhubaneswar: Founder member, Nasha Mukti Yuva Sankalp (NMYS), Md Imran Ali’s anti-tobacco talk was aired on 54 community radio stations covering 19 States on the World No Tobacco Day.

The theme of the talk was “Tobacco-free childhood”. Awareness was made on pre-cancer lessons, anti-tobacco legislation and the concept of tobacco-free schools.

Through this radio programme, villages in different parts of the country, including the states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Utter Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana etc were reached with the appeal of keeping the children away from tobacco stuff.

Joint secretary, Community Radio Association, India, Biswajeet Padhi and Pioneer of Community Radio Movement, NA Shah Ansari described the pan India anti-tobacco awareness campaign as a historic act in the history of community radios.

Notably, tobacco kills more than 2,500 Indian population every day which is much bigger than the deaths caused by HIV and malaria put together, informed Imran in his talk through community radio.

Generally, three types of products are generated from tobacco. One is chewing items such as gutka, the second is smoking items such as cigarette and bidi etc and third is Gudakhu (tobacco paste). In the states like Odisha, many people use Gudakhu as toothpaste. All the three types of products have around 4,000 types chemicals and it may be a cause of cancer. These are also called cancer causing elements, Imran added.

He also said India has become the capital of mouth cancer in the world being attributed to tobacco products.

He also explained the early signs of mouth cancer in his talk.

“Our radio based awareness campaign has reached to lakhs of the Indian population which will help to identify pre-cancer lessons and it will contribute to the fall of numbers of oral cancer in the country,”  said Imran.