Smoking spreading like wildfire

[DJKeefy]

Smoking, smoking everywhere. In buses and microbuses; in theatres, cinemas, hospitals and all public places. Smoking is rife in Egyptian society and it's spreading like wildfire.

Dr Hassan Tawfiq, head of the Health Insurance Authority in Benha, says that smoking causes lung cancer, bronchial asthma, pneumonia and many other potentially fatal diseases.

"It may also cause infertility. It gradually destroys cells in the genitals and, in the case of men, it prevents them from 'doing a good job in bed'," Dr Abdel-Hamid Youssef, a consultant in obstetrics, gynaecology and infertility, told The Egyptian Gazette.

"Unemployment is the main reason why I smoke," says a young man called Ahmed Hussein.
"I graduated from the Arabic Language Faculty in 1999 and I still can't find a job, which means I can't afford to get married. I just while away my time smoking. It's not easy to give up anyway," adds Ahmed, aged 27.

Heavy smokers prefer to buy cigarettes rather than food and other necessities for their families.

"I buy three packets a day, which comes to about LE250 a month. I can't afford it but I can't give it up," says Hosni Hassanein, a 50-year-old bus driver, in a sad tone of voice. "The doctors keep telling me to quit, because I have chest problems. But, whenever anything goes wrong in my daily life, I simply light up a cigarette,” he explains. Smoking also has a bad effect on children and in fact the whole of society.

Laila Karam Eddin, Professor of Psychology at the Higher Institute for Childhood Studies, Ain Shams University, told The Gazette that everyone knows smoking is bad for the health, but the manufacturers make a lot of money out of it.

"In research in developed countries, animals have been exposed to the nicotine and other harmful substances in tobacco. After some time, they contract cancer and other fatal diseases," explains Prof. Laila.

She says that these countries are very strict about smoking. For example, anyone caught smoking in a public place can be fined the equivalent of LE1,000.
"But alas, this isn't the case in Egypt, where you find everyone smokes wherever they want, without respecting the rights of non-smokers who get annoyed by the smell," she adds.

As for its effect on the children, Laila says that parents who smoke destroy their children because they imitate them.

"Children look up to their mothers and fathers. When they see one or both of them smoking, they want to copy them and it soon becomes a habit then an addiction," she warns, adding some children believe that smoking means 'being big, tough and sophisticated'.

"The reasons for this moral deterioration are negligence, family disputes, frustration and delinquency. If the families don't care enough for their children, they fall in with the wrong crowd and it's a disaster.

"Smoking is also very bad for unborn children. Pregnant women should avoid sitting beside smokers and husbands who smoke should be aware of this," she stresses.

"I left school two years ago and started smoking with my shella [group of pals]. My father smokes and doesn't care what I do," says Ali Sobhi, aged 15. "My parents are always arguing with each other. Don't blame me - it's my circumstances that have destroyed my future."

The former Mufti of Egypt, Nasr Farid Wasel, issued a fatwa (religious edict) banning smoking because it kills, backing it up with a verse from the Holy Qu'ran, where God says: "And spend in the cause of God and don't cast yourselves to ruin by your hands, but do good, surely Allah loves those who do good". (From Surat el-Baqara [Chapter of the Cow]).

“The Government should take tough measures to deter the companies which manufacture cigarettes and other perilous products made from tobacco. It also should take strict measures against those who smoke in public places without considering the feelings of others,” said Abdel-Hamid Youssef, a consultant in obstetrics.


Source: http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.p ... itle=Egypt: Call for regulating all imports

[Phantom]

Trying to give up the weed Keefy

[A-four]

This is a really interesting subject that I hope to bring up in the near future on L4U. The important issue here for me is not as to whether some one smokes or not. its more to do with the quality of these things that bothered me so much, for example,.....it far more easy to produce a fake 20 pack of B&H than it is a £5 note.,........so what is in these things.

[LovelyLadyLux]

What really IS the cost of smoking? I just came back from the final clean up of my mother's home following her passing last month. She passed at 80 yrs of age from lung, liver and pancreatic cancer. Smoked 2+ packages of ciggies/day since she was 14 yrs old. I grew up with chronic sore throats and lung problems, my father passed with COPD even though he never "smoked" a cigarette in his life. Even the local Thrift Shops and Salvation Army refused any of her household items due to the orange haze of nicotine that covered everything. Sad. Sad. Sad.

The family home was huge but nobody could breathe in it or stand the stench hence effectively putting my parents into a form of solitary confinement over the years as most of the family refused to subject themselves and their children to the constant nicotine and smoke. My mother was never able to quit for so much as a day hence she remained at home with her 'cancers' toughing it out until the bitter end 'alone' as Palliative Care refused to provide her care in her home due to her smoking and she couldn't face going for treatment or care into a hospital where she would not be allowed her cigarettes. My brother and I finally got her into hospital early evening of the day before she passed. Cigarettes took over her life and consumed her. They greatly negatively affected all of us. Cigarettes deprived her of enjoying her grandchildren and great grandchildren, nieces, nephews too. She exercised her 'right to smoke' and was discretely and not so discretely asked to leave many restaurants and business establishments. As she got older her addiction to cigarettes held putting her, and my father, into basically an isolated life of lonliness as she was welcomed nowhere and nobody wanted her in their world.......Cigarettes are a legal drug but their effects - social, financial, psychological are devastating.

[Kiya]

I don't know how anybody could smoke 2 or more packets per day, I think I would be sickened of that much.
I'm a smoker myself since 16 & I did stop a couple of years ago for about 10mths, in all honesty I didn't miss them & was even able to let family members smoke when they visited.
I was an idiot to start again when 1 of my daughters (smoker) stayed over the new year period & I asked her for a puff.......wrong move!!! it was just enough to get me going again.
But since I've always smoked in the kitchen with window open as I do know the mess /colouring it does to your home..........no excuse I know!......but I have it still in the back of my mind to try & stop again sometime.

[Horus]

LLL, that was a really sad story about your mum and how it affected your whole family it was very sad to read, but a salutary message to us all I think, so thanks for posting it. I smoked for most of my teenage years and half my working life, thankfully I was able to kick the habit over 25 years ago, but I still treat myself as akin to a reformed alcoholic as I know that just one cigarette would set me back onto the slippery slope of smoking again. I never lecture people as that doesn’t work, you need to want to stop for yourself, it is hard but not impossible, so good luck to anyone trying to quit.