Cancer Society launches new SAVE campaign

By ALEXANDER BRUZUAL Friday, March 20 2009

Over 60 percent of cigarette users in Trinidad and Tobago to date have died from various forms of cancer and several cardiovascular ailments, including heart attacks and strokes.

Lung cancer, caused by the use of tobacco, is also the second highest cause of death for men and women in TT, while peripheral vascular disease caused through tobacco use and results in the loss of limbs, is also rampant

This was revealed yesterday by President of the Trinidad and Tobago Medical Association, Dr Solaiman Juman, at the launch of the new SAVE campaign, at the Cancer Society building, Rosalino Street, Woodbrook.

The campaign is designed to educate all members of the public on the detriments of smoking, and the benefits of tobacco control measures. It is doing so by appealing to both the hearts and pockets of communities with the message that, especially in these recessionary times, tobacco control saves both lives and money. “The cost of cigarette use in society is enormous, and it is a drain on both the social and economic sectors of this country. So many various medical issues arise out of this one item, and what is frightening is that despite everything that has been said over the past 20 odd years, and what is known by the people of this country, cigarette and tobacco use still goes unchecked,”

The Bloomberg Global Initiative is also in support for the campaign for people to ‘save’, as expressed by its Tobacco Control Project Officer for this country, Dominique Monteil.

“A pack of cigarettes in TT currently cost roughly $16 a day. So for a year that is $5,696. That’s more than a monthly salary for some people.

And if you continue smoking your expenses will skyrocket as the oncoming medical bills will be crippling to your pocket. That money could be spent elsewhere for food, for education, and on various other bills,” Monteil said.

“A child who grows up in a house where smoking is the norm will come to this mentality. But if it can be shown the reality and the impacts of cancers then hopefully it will prevent them from ever picking up a pack. We have to use small measures like this to make bigger impacts,” Monteil said.