Cigarette smoking and lung cancer

In spite of the fact that governments are trying to create public awareness about the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, one can witness school and college children smoke openly or in private. Efforts are also made in India to legally prohibit showing smoking cigarettes in films. The school and college children idealize the film heroes and try to mimic their actions, which includes smoking cigarettes in a particular style.

A recent study in Norway showed that people who smoked just one to four cigarettes a day were nearly three times more likely to die from heart disease than nonsmokers. The probability of dying from lung cancer also increases three times!

In view of this observation of marked increase in the fatalities even amongst small-time smokers (one to four cigarettes a day), it is necessary that awareness amongst the children regarding the harmful effects should be ensured by the school managements and by the governments. This also calls for ban smoking in crowed places to avoid passive smoking, i.e., inhalation of cigarette smoke by nonsmokers who happened to be present nearby to a smoker.