Tobacco kills....sharukh ,do u know that?

In recent weeks we all have witnessed verbal exchanges between our health minister A.Ramadoss and sharukh khan about the issue of on screen & public smoking by the latter.sharukh categorically denied any sort of influence on youth by his smoking and he tend to use creativity as shield to defend the minister who is pursuading all known south and north film stars to quit smoking in films.Rajanikanth,mohanlal aamir khan and many others agreed to quit smoking in their films ....then why only sharukh ?

Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is well known that half the people who smoke regularly today – about 650 million people – will eventually be killed by tobacco. Equally alarming is the fact that hundreds of thousands of people who have never smoked die each year from diseases caused by breathing second-hand tobacco smoke.
As per WHO statistics, tobacco consumption is increasing in the developing world and India and South Asia have the highest incidence of oral cancer. India has a serious problem with tobacco chewing. While tobacco is consumed in several ways - by smoking cigarettes and bidis, chewing gutkha, khaini or mishri or by sniffing, it is the ghutka problem which is endemic.

WHO statistics show that of the 400 million Indians aged 15 years and over, 47 percent use tobacco in one form or the other. The trend of the young taking to smoking is particularly disturbing as research has shown that people who start smoking in their teenage years run a higher risk of turning into life-long smokers.“Six thousand children are recruited into the tobacco habit every day in India,” points out Dr Almel.(A wide angle view of india)

Smoking kills 900,000 people every year in India, and unless corrective action is taken soon that number will increase to 1 million smoking-related deaths annually by 2010 and beyond, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and conducted by scientists from India, Canada and the UK.(larry's blog)
Studies indicate that one million (2500 a day) are dying in India because of tobacco usage. Pictorial warnings will especially discourage the illiterates from using tobacco, feel the activists.

"Asia has been in the forefront of issuing pictorial warnings. And there has not been any public opposition so government (in India) need not worry," said Dr Judith Mackay of World Lung Foundation.
Dr Douglas Bettcher, director, Tobacco Free Initiative, World Health Organisation throws the light on the world scenario, "The WHO estimates that approximately five million people die each year from tobacco use. If current trends continue, this figure will reach 10 million per year by 2030, with 70 per cent of those deaths occurring in developing countries like India." And Dr Mackay warns, "India is losing 900,0000 jobs a year due to dying smokers." Hence, it's not just the environment but the economy too is at a risk.(The times of india)