Friday, September 23, 2005
(10:19:00 AM)
"We should ban tobacco. Shouldn't we?"
This entry is specifically about what's going on in Singapore. Singapore's National Cancer Centre is planning to organise a campaign to ban tobacco. Smoking. How I hate it. Well good thing I will never touch a cigarrette. Smokers. Some are rich and some may not be. The rich ones. Yes. For you, a box of cigarrette is totally affordable for you. And it is also affordable to kill yourself.
The not-so-rich-ones. You can't afford. Why spend all those money on cigarrettes, when you can actually buy something benifitial ; something you need? And you're spoiling yourself with tobacco. You want to get sick and PAY for all those check-ups?
With Singapore's success in banning chewing gum, the National Cancer Centres in Asia are looking to Singapore to take the lead in proposing a ban on tobacco products in 10 years. Singapore's National Cancer Centre is in talks with the Health Ministry and wants to work in partnership with the community. This includes working with the Health Promotion Board to offer alternatives to current smokers, such as nicotine patches.
And it costs Singapore some $600 million to $800 million a year to treat tobacco-related illnesses.. Lung cancer claims nearly three Singaporeans daily. The death toll is the highest compared to any other cancer, including breast and colon cancers. And research has shown, tobacco is the most important preventable cause of lung cancer. Up to 500 million people in the next 50 years will potentially die of tobacco-related illnesses. This is despite smokers being 20 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers. Second-hand smokers are not entirely spared - they make up 29 percent of lung cancer patients.
I will support the National Cancer Centre in whatever they decide. And if you smokers don't like how they decide. It's actually for your own good. My dad was in Zurich a few weeks ago. He bought a box of cigarrettes there. It is so called " branded ". In Singapore, there are images of how smoking can harm yourself. Right? But Zurich. Is so good. They're straightforward.
It is written " Smokers die younger ". Now how great is that. By reading that, the smokers might feel guilty. We are not insulting smokers in anyways. But technically, smokers DO die younger. I hope smokers reading this will support the National Cancer Centre with the campaigns they're organising.
Anti-smoking. A good habit.