Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu in a message on “World No Tobacco Day”, which is being observed on the theme ‘Protecting youth from industry manipulation and preventing them from tobacco and nicotine use’ this year has underlined the high importance of sensitizing the youth with the requisite information they need to recognize the tactics engaged by tobacco and related industries to attract younger people towards addictive products and stressed on empowering the youth with the knowledge to repulse these deceitful manipulations.
Tobacco users are also likely to be more vulnerable to COVID-19 as tobacco has a negative impact on lung health and may lead to chronic respiratory diseases. At the same time, it must be made known that a very large number of people die every year due to smoking related diseases, he added.
Supporting the World Health Organization’s call to the youth to join the fight to become a tobacco-free generation, the Lt Governor stressed on strict enforcement of all related laws for discouraging the consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products, especially among the children and young people, besides taking initiatives for spreading awareness among the masses about the life threatening risks related to smoking and tobacco use.