Aizwal, India
The state government has launched a "Smoke Free Mizoram" programme to achieve the goal
Concerned with the high incidence of cancer and tobacco related diseases, the Mizoram government have launched a programme to become a "smoking-free" state.
"No person henceforth would be allowed to smoke in open places or in front of a non-smoker. Smoking had already banned in the premises of government offices, educational institutions and health centres across Mizoram," Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said after launching the "Smoke Free Mizoram" programme.
According to state government records, Mizoram topped the country eight years ago in the consumption of tobacco, reports IANS.
The Chief Minister's wife Lal Riliani, President of the Mizoram chapter of the Indian Society of Tobacco Health, said that more than 50 per cent of cancer cases among Mizos were caused by tobacco.
"The state government is giving its all out support to the anti–tobacco organisations and activists to strictly enforce the Control of Tobacco Products Act (CTPA) in the state," Lal Riliani said.
Mizos are traditionally heavy smokers of different types of tobacco. The latest survey, conducted in 2009, revealed that 55 per cent of the state's population was smokers.
"The survey revealed that as much as 73.1 per cent of the smokers wanted to quit smoking as they felt that smoking is the cause of many diseases, including cancer," Mizoram State Tobacco Control Society (MSTCS) Nodal Officer–cum–Project Officer Jane R Ralte said.
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