This is a review paper comprehensively encompassing the different aspects of tobacco control with particular reference to the Indian scenario. The information on prevalent tobacco habits in India, health hazards and environmental hazards due to tobacco use, passive smoking and its impact, economics of tobacco, legislation to control tobacco in India, the tobacco cessation services and the way ahead for effective tobacco control are discussed. Tobacco is a leading preventable cause of death, killing nearly six million people worldwide each year. Reversing this entirely preventable manmade epidemic should be our top priority. This global tobacco epidemic kills more people than tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. This epidemic can be resolved by becoming aware of the devastating effects of tobacco, learning about the proven effective tobacco control measures, national programmes and legislation prevailing in the home country and then engaging completely to halt the epidemic to move toward a tobacco-free world. India is the second largest consumer of tobacco globally, and accounts for approximately one-sixth of the world's tobacco-related deaths. The tobacco problem in India is peculiar, with consumption of variety of smokeless and smoking forms. Understanding the tobacco problem in India, focusing more efforts on what works and investigating the impact of sociocultural diversity and cost-effectiveness of various modalities of tobacco control should be our priority.

The tobacco sales ban near educational institutions could be expanded beyond 100 m. Greater enforcement is needed regarding the current bans, particularly because advertisement density within 100 m of schools was associated with all students' tobacco use outcomes.

BackgroundThere is an important global need to improve early detection of oral cancer. Recent reports suggest that optical imaging technologies can aid in the identification of neoplastic lesions in the oral cavity; however, there is little data evaluating the use of optical imaging modalities in resource limited settings where oral cancer impacts patients disproportionately. In this article, we evaluate a simple, low-cost optical imaging system that is designed for early detection of oral cancer in resource limited settings. We report results of a clinical study conducted at Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) in Mumbai, India using this system as a tool to improve detection of oral cancer and its precursors.MethodsReflectance images with white light illumination and fluorescence images with 455 nm excitation were obtained from 261 sites in the oral cavity from 76 patients and 90 sites in the oral cavity from 33 normal volunteers. Quantitative image features were used to develop classification algorithms to identify neoplastic tissue, using clinical diagnosis of expert observers as the gold standard.ResultsUsing the ratio of red to green autofluorescence, the algorithm identified tissues judged clinically to be cancer or clinically suspicious for neoplasia with a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 87%.ConclusionsResults suggest that the performance of this simple, objective low-cost system has potential to improve oral screening efforts, especially in low-resource settings.

Context:This paper describes the follow-up interventions and results of the work place tobacco cessation study.Aims:To assess the tobacco quit rates among employees, through self report history, and validate it with rapid urine cotinine test; compare post-intervention KAP regarding tobacco consumption with the pre-intervention responses and assess the tobacco consumption pattern among contract employees and provide assistance to encourage quitting.Settings and Design:This is a cohort study implemented in a chemical industry in rural Maharashtra, India.Materials and Methods:All employees (104) were interviewed and screened for oral neoplasia. Active intervention in the form of awareness lectures, focus group discussions and if needed, pharmacotherapy was offered. Medical staff from the industrial medical unit and from a local referral hospital was trained. Awareness programs were arranged for the family members and contract employees.Statistical Analysis Used:Non-parametric statistical techniques and kappa.Results:Forty eight per cent employees consumed tobacco. The tobacco quit rates increased with each follow-up intervention session and reached 40% at the end of one year. There was 96% agreement between self report tobacco history and results of rapid urine cotinine test. The post-intervention KAP showed considerable improvement over the pre-intervention KAP. 56% of contract employees used tobacco and 55% among them had oral pre-cancerous lesions.Conclusions:A positive atmosphere towards tobacco quitting and positive peer pressure assisting each other in tobacco cessation was remarkably noted on the entire industrial campus. A comprehensive model workplace tobacco cessation program has been established, which can be replicated elsewhere.

Background: Tobacco cessation would provide the most immediate benefits of tobacco control to prevent tobacco related disease morbidity and mortality. Methods: A tobacco cessation program involving individual and group behavior therapy was implemented in three stages at a worksite. Tobacco quit rates were assessed at the end of each contact session. Results: Out of the 291 tobacco users identified, 224 participated in the tobacco cessation interventions. At the end of three interventions, 38 (17%) users had successfully quit tobacco use. Presence of clinical oral pre-cancer lesion was found to be associated with quitting (p =0.02 ). Also tobacco users with oral pre-cancer lesions were around three times more likely to quit than those with no lesions (OR= 2.70 95% C.I= 1.20 -6.05). Conclusion: Cost effective multi-pronged tobacco cessation approaches, inbuilt into other occupational health and welfare activities, are acceptable and feasible to achieve long term sustainable tobacco cessation programs at worksites.