Ginette: From Miami to Mysore

               A newspaper article of The Times of India entitled “Smoking for a decade may leave no symptoms but the damage is done, says doctor” by Sunitha Rao starts off with the question “Do you smoke?” which according to Rao is a question Dr. K S Satish asks all his patients.  This quote sets Rao’s audience up to learn more about smoking from a medical standpoint. In the beginning of the article, the author exposes the reader to more critical thought about smoking in “youngsters” (Rao, 2017, para 1). As the article goes on, it is clear that Rao looked at smoking in the younger generation.  The author includes two subsections. The first entitled “21-year old suffers from oral cancer” and the latter being “Passive smokers worst hit.”  The first subsection talks about how the effects of smoking take time to show but chewing tobacco produces effects that are almost immediate. This subsection also mentioned that “There are cases of very young people (in their 20s) … queuing up at hospitals” (Rao, 2017,para 4).  This quote shows that tobacco use among adolescents is a serious health issue. This same subsection also touches on the topics of addiction running in families and how accessibility in their communities make young people more “vulnerable” (Rao, 2017, para 8). The last subsection looks at passive smokers or people affected by second hand smoke.  This part of the article shows the audience just how a person's  health can be affected by being a passive smoker.

          When looking at the concept of cigarette use in India I thought it wasn’t relevant to my tables I saw young adults and even older adults. Some of the people on the patio were drinking coffee others tea, a few were playing cards, some just talking with friends, but they all had one thing in common: cigarettes.  There is not one time in my life that I can recall seeing that many people smoking cigarettes in one place.  I am use to seeing maybe one or two people in a corner smoking.  I am use to seeing people looking down on smokers, but in India, smoking is normal. The normalcy of tobacco use in India affected my experience on this trip not only because it was strange to me but also because I was exposed to second hand smoke.  Per research from ScienceDirect titled “Tobacco industry efforts subverting International Agency for Research on Cancer’s second- hand smoke study” it was found that in non-smokers there was a 16% increase in the potential risk of lung cancer.  This shows that smokers are not just affecting themselves but everyone around them.experience, until I was walking to my hotel from the Public Health Research Institute of India. On the streets, I saw littered pieces of paper, banana peels, but my attention was immediately captured by a photo of a person with tumors on their throat.  Upon closer look, I noticed that the picture is a part of a warning on a cigarette packet. That extreme warning was shocking to me because I am use to seeing just the printed label warning in the United States.  During my walk, home, some of my classmates and I decided to stop by the Barista, a local coffee shop in between our staring point and destination. As we approach the gates of Barista I was hit with the reek of cigarettes. As I opened the gates I looked around to saw ten or so patio tables.  At these

 

            In Rao’s (2017) article, the authoritative voices are the doctors who have seen or are currently seeing patients affected by tobacco use or passive use.  The voices of the doctors display ethos in the article; since they are trained professionals, the audience trusts what they say.   Voices that are left out that would be useful are voices of people going through the repercussions of first and second hand tobacco use. These voices would appeal to pathos. Hearing about the stories of the people and their struggles fighting their diseases would bring out emotions out of the audience that they would not have without their voices.

            Reading Rao’s (2017) article made me notice just how much of a big problem tobacco use is in India.  Before reading the article, I knew a lot of people were smoking at the Barista but I did not truly think about how absurd the number of people was until after I read the article. Smoking is a global health problem and this article made it easier to understand why many people around the world continue to smoke even though we all know it is bad for them.  According to Dr. Satish “There may be no symptoms of lung disease even after 10 years of smoking” (Rao, 2017, para 2).  Smoking for so long and not having any symptoms makes people feel as if they are invisible and nothing could ever happen to them but Dr. Satish also says that the damage is done although it may not be seen until later (Rao, 2017, para 2).  Reading this article caused me to look at why people smoke in a way I never had before.

 

            Ending the use of tobacco products is extremely important. According to an original research article from the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health entitled “Study of tobacco use and related factors among adolescent students of secondary school in south-eastern region of Rajasthan India”, “[Tobacco] is now by far the most common preventable cause of death in the world” (Meena, 2017, p 1661).  For this reason alone, more people should get involved on ways to minimize and one day completely end the use of tobacco. The amount of adolescents using tobacco is increasing because of catchy advertisements, easy access and low cost (Meena, 2017, p 1662).   A research articled from the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention journal titled “The Relationship Between Tobacco Advertisements and Smoking Status in Youth” states that “exposure to marketing and media more than doubled the risk of becoming a tobacco user” (Shah, 2017, p 640).  To get the youth to stop using tobacco it is important for us all to convince law makers that advertisements promoting tobacco should not allowed.       

 

            Tobacco use is an extreme global health threat that is affecting not just India but almost every country on this planet.  Rao’s newspaper article looked at why smoking is still going on even though we all know it is dangerous  which is due to many people not showing symptoms for a decade.  Now while people think smoking will not affect them the way it has some, per Dr. Satish the damage is done.

 

 

References

 

Meena, R., Meena, S., Mittal, D., & Meena, N. (2017). Study of tobacco use and related factors among adolescent students of secondary school in south-eastern region of Rajasthan, India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 4(5), 1661-1667.