2nd October 1990 to 1st November 1999

HELP US HELP YOU
Join our Anti-Tobacco
Campaign rid you of the habit of smoking

Smokers and tobacco users trying to give are not alone. They need help and support in coping during the trying period. Breaking a habit needs will power. Therefore, giving up brings victory and a restoration of will power and peace of mind. An effective method is the practice of easy Rajyoga Meditation as practiced in the Brahma Kumaris Institution, which empowers you to change your habits and increase self-control.

The Medical Wing of the Rajyoga Education and Research Foundation, the Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya and Global Hospital & Research Centre has jointly planned a campaign for “Freedom from Tobacco”. This ‘No-Tobacco Month” would be launched on Gandhi Jayanti 2nd October, 1999 Over 4000 Brahma Kumaris Centers thought India will help organize programmes jointly with social service organizations and government departments by awareness of the ill effects of tobacco can be spread.

Action Plan Many Seminars, workshops and lectures will be held at public places, universities, colleges, schools, hospitals, companies, elite clubs and others to educate the messes about the hazards of tobacco. Throughout the month, doctors, associated with the Brahma Kumaris, will travel in all corners of India conducting programmes on the following topics. Tobacco or Health: Get your priorities right How to quit smoking? A Tobacco-free Society: a Vision for the next millennium Smoking: Hazards, Causes & Remedies Meditation as an effective means to quit An Educative and informative Exhibition is being prepared about the hazards, causes and methods to overcome the addiction. The exhibition will be displayed in towns and villages covering India. A motivating poster will be prominently displayed at public places. It will also be distributed in the form of a sticker. Features of the Public programme organized during the Campaign A couple of motivating songs will be recorded and played during various programmes. Those using tobacco in any form would be motivated to render valuable service to the society by Tyag (renunciation) of the hazardous habit. Cigarettes, pouches of tobacco, ‘gutka and other addictive substances will be collected as a worthy and valuable co-operation and these will be destroyed at the end of the month in the presence of important citizens ‘Freedom from Tobacco’ marches will be organized with slogans and tableaus.

This group of motivating techniques will be aimed at requesting tobacco users to abstain from their habit for just 1 day on the 24th October, 1999 the United Nations Day. Likewise, shopkeepers will be requested not to sell cigarettes and tobacco for one day. A special appeal will be made to tobacco companies not to manufacture tobacco for one day as a gesture express support for the campaign.

An appeal will be made to the Government to completely ban the advertisements of tobacco products and to take appropriate action to ensure a more prominent display of the statutory warning message – ‘Cigarette smoking is injurious to health’
A Seal will be prepared with the anti tobacco message which would be stamped on all outgoing mail of participating institutions.
Street plays conveying the theme of the campaign will be arranged. A one-week residential programme was organized at ‘Shantivan complex, Abu Road will be organized the end of October 1999 targeting over 2000 users committed to giving up their addiction.

Your active participation is solicited to ensure that this community service is a success.

Did you know that…..?

• Cigarette smoke contains 4000 harmful chemicals, of which at least 48 are carcinogenic in nature
• 5% of the total gas in cigarette smoke is carbon monoxide. The affinity of carbon monoxide for hemoglobin is 200 times greater than that of oxygen. Thus, smoker’ blood has very low capacity for carrying oxygen which is essential for the body.
• The risk of getting first heart attack is three times more in smokers than non-smokers. After first heart attack if they don’t stop smoking the risk increases to six-times.
• Those who regularly smoke up to 8 cigarettes a day are 8 times more prone to lung cancer than a non-smoker. 80% of deaths from lung cancer are because of smoking. Smoking substantially increases the risk of other cancers- of the lips, tongue, esophagus and stomach 30% of cancer deaths are because of smoking
• ‘Smoking is the single most important case of the in America’ - U.S. Surgeon General (1989)
• ‘Smoking drains your purse, it burns your clothes, and makes a chimney of your nose’ - Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse
• ‘Cigarette smoking is now the most serious and most widespread form of addiction in the world – even worse than heroin’ – Dr. Richard Pollin, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (USA)
• Smoking increases the risk of chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke. Peripheral vascular disease, osteoporosis.
• 75% of smokers have attempted to quit but are not able to.
• Some good news: if you stop using tobacco NOW, after ten years your chances of developing various diseases are reduced to the level of non smoker.
• Merely taking out and lighting cigarettes takes, on average, about 2 mts., which means about 16 mts. A day if one smokes, on average, 8 cigarettes, if, instead, a person does meditation for 15 to 20 mts. Daily, he or she would be saving not only money and preserving health but will be saving precious time, amounting to years in life, considering the fact that the habit increases in course of time.

For making people free from Tobacco different types of Shiver has been organized by the Medical wing of RERF, GHRC and Brahmakumaris.