Mizoram Still Highest Consumer of Tobacco in India

Other Northeast states Nagaland and Tripura follow close behind

Mizoram a state couched in north-east India is no doubt permeated with the spirit of natural beauty but it is the same state where 60 per cent of people indulge in smoking. The strange thing that has been put under the light by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is that 22 per cent women of Mizoram indulge in smoking, compared to the meagre national level of 2.5 per cent, which is indeed startling.

This survey has also revealed the fact, that the ratio of women indulging in smoking have a higher death rate than the women who never smoked.

In the words of Nancy Malsawmtluangi:

I sell minimum 50 packs of cigarettes and 170 paans (betel leaves laved with tobacco) every day.

That can be one of the major reasons, why women of Mizoram are topping the cancer list of the country.

I think government will have to do a lot to check this trend and will have to try hard to make people aware of its implications.

Other News of Today of Mizo Smoking

Agartala, May 30 : Mizoram has emerged as the highest tobacco consuming state in the country followed by Nagaland and Tripura, Dr Goutam Majumder, Superintendent of Regional Cancer Centre said here today.

He said despite imposition of ban on smoking in public places, about 55.9 per cent of people in Tripura had been consuming tobacco (67.2 per cent in Mizoram and 56.8 per cent in Nagaland). According to statistics, while female tobacco users in the state was 48.1 per cent, 63.4 males used tobacco in Tripura.

''Females are found to be using smokeless tobacco than their male counterpart. Tobacco users of below 17 years are found highest in the state that counts for 29 per cent in a day,'' Dr Majumder said, adding that the tobacco using habit among minors had been on the rise.

Population based Cancer Registry Programme of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) shows occurrence of oesophagus, lung, mouth, nasopharynx and stomach cancer are relatively higher in Northeastern states as compared to other parts of the country.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has conducted a comprehensive study into the abnormal cancer growth in NE state during 2003-04, which revealed that Mizoram recorded the world's second highest cancer cases.

According to the report of the Development of Atlas of Cancer in India (DACI), Aizawl district has the highest Minimal Age Adjusted Incidence Rate (MAAIR) in India among women, followed by Serchhip district, which was also in Mizoram.

The study revealed, on an average about 40 people in a population of about a lakh suffer from stomach cancer in Northeast and this was only second to Japan's statistics after analysing the data of 105 hospitals spread over 82 districts across the country.