India and China Threatened by Tobacco

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN INDIA

AS CURBS on the advertising of tobacco increase and education on the health hazards of cigarette smoking spreads in the Western world, the giant tobacco companies have turned to the East to peddle their wares. Studies funded by the World Bank predict that tobacco deaths in China could reach one million annually by the year 2010. The British Medical Journal stated that 100 million Chinese under age 29 will die as a result of smoking.

The World Health Organization projects that along with China, India—with its population of almost one billion—is in line for “the biggest and sharpest increases in tobacco-related disease.” Reports claim that about 20 million children there start smoking each year. A South Indian man was a chain-smoker for many years. He wrote to the publishers of Awake! in appreciation for an article in the magazine that helped him to stop smoking completely. It was the article “You Can Quit—We Did!” which appeared in the issue of December 8, 1998.

What reasons can you give for stopping smoking? Some thought-provoking ones are found on page 25 of the 32-page brochure What Does God Require of Us? You can request a copy by filling in and mailing the accompanying coupon to the address shown on the coupon or to an appropriate address listed on page 5 of this magazine.

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