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This is unquestionably a fantastic anti-smoking print advertisement launched in Oman to urge people to quit smoking. The advertisement is no doubt designed in a manner to hit the most dangerous aspect of smoking that it affects brain. The advertisement is showing ‘IQ’ written in the middle of the advertisement and the letter ‘I’ is displayed by placing a cigarette. The burning cigarette appeared in the advertisement has shown reaching the end of it to depict the letter ‘I’ would be disappeared and only Q will be left for display.
The advertisement clearly conveys that the cigarette directly affects the brain and consequently the intelligence of a person.
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Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has been threatened with legal action over a film poster that depicts him smoking a cigar.
India's National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication says if Bachchan does not reply to its legal notice in eight days it will take him to court.
The government banned tobacco adverts in 2003 and last year announced strict rules on smoking in films and on TV.
Bachchan is recovering at home from surgery last month.
The National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (Note), a non-governmental organisation, says Bachchan has broken the law.
Its secretary, Shekhar Salkar, told the BBC the film hoarding was of Bachchan's forthcoming film, Family.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar are among 79 signatories to the WHO Framework on Convention on Tobacco Control, reported Gulf News. The protocol is designed to promote smoke-free public areas, and includes bans on tobacco promotions and a tax and price increases on tobacco products. The deadline for compliance is February 2006.
Dr Ahmed bin Abdul Qadir Al Ghassani, undersecretary at the Ministry of Health for health affairs, in the presence of Dr Al Fateh Zainul Abideen Al Samani, representative of World Health Orgnisation to the Sultanate, inaugurated a seminar on the introduction of WHO's anti-tobacco covenant.
"Come to our clinic and quit smoking!" This was the simple message that Mohammed Ali Khan Feroz, radiographer and coordinator of the first free anti-smoking campaign at the Muttrah Clinic, next to the Muttrah taxi stand, in wilayat Muttrah, wanted to put across to the public.
The clinic, which will have a three-day anti-smoking drive on its premises, starting today and concluding on Monday, plans to not only drive home the anti-smoking message, but also try to reform as many smokers as possible in Muttrah wilayat.
The anti-smoking drive will be held at their clinic from 5pm to 8pm.
Al Hayat Heart and Lung Centre in Al Khuwair launched ‘Quit Smoking Clinic’ yesterday on the occasion of No Smoking Day, which falls on May 31.
The clinic, launched as part of Al Hayat’s community services, will function under the guidance of Dr K.P Raman and Dr K.G Rajan at the Heart and Lung Centre.
Dr Rajan said smoking is the commonest preventable cause of death and several studies have highlighted the value of intervention. “It is important not only to encourage people to quit but also to organise a quitting programme in a clinic set-up and follow them regularly to improve their will power and monitor their withdrawal symptoms if any,” he said.
Smoking is well recognised to cause cancer of the mouth, larynx, lungs, stomach, pancreas and urinary bladder due to their carcinogenic substances. . . .
Young smokers are increasing worldwide, more than 80 in developing world and Oman is not an exception.
Prevalence of smoking in Oman among students between the ages of 13 and 18 is as high as 20 per cent and between 23 per cent and 25 per cent among adults, a top private sector health official said yesterday.
Quoting Ministry of Health figures, Dr K. P. Raman, cardiologist and medical director of Al Hayat Polyclinic, said: "The MoH statistics state that a survey done in schools showed that the prevalence of smoking is as high as 20 per cent in students aged 13 and 18 and in adults, the estimated prevalence is between 23 and 25 per cent."
Dr Raman said that Oman was taking many steps to discourage people from smoking. "Some of the steps that they have taken include: Health education to the public, banning smoking in public places, monitoring the advertisements in the right manner, taxing the tobacco product and making it expensive to the public."
MUSCAT The Ministry of Health, represented by national committee for combating smoking, distributed prizes to the winners in a quit-smoking contest held under the motto, Quit and Earn for the Year 2004'.
The contest was organised by the Ministry of Health in conjunction with the National Institute for Public Health in Finland from May 2 to 29.
The four-week-long contest was conducted worldwide and the Sultanate participated for the third time.
MUSCAT In line with the Muscat Municipality directive against smoking in public places, Muscat City Centre has implemented a no-smoking' policy at the Food Court beginning from this month.
Muscat City Centre hopes that this new policy will serve to improve the family atmosphere, support the efforts of the municipality and the Ministry of Health and protect all from smoking-related diseases. Also, the centre wants the customers to enjoy their food and beverages without the smoking getting in the way.
More importantly, since the Food Court is next to Magic Planet, this policy helps protect the children playing there from the harmful effects of passive smoking.
The Iranians come at daybreak, buzzing across the green water in small boats packed with goats. They deliver their livestock to Omani traders, idle away the hot midday hours and, as darkness sets in, return to Iran, this time loaded with cigarettes, tea and clothing.
Aside from the starkly beautiful rocky fjords, tourist attractions are scarce on this remote tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Watching the Iranian smugglers come and go is about the best local travel operators can muster. . . .
But the goat and cigarette trade, running perpendicular to the oil tankers, is the only commerce the locals care about. It is said to represent over half of the economy here on the Musandam peninsula . . .
These days, however, traders like Abdullah Sadani, a 33-year-old Iranian, complain that reform in Iran is ruining business. An import deal that Iran signed with international cigarette companies in 2002 has decimated that trade, which was by far the largest and most lucrative
The health affairs department at Muscat Municipality has drafted a plan to ban smoking in commercial centres, shops and industrial establishments in various wilayats of Muscat governorate.
The plan was prepared in cooperation with the department of fighting non-communicable diseases at the Ministry of Health.
MUSCAT The Sultanate, with other nations and organisations of the world, observes International Anti-Smoking Day today under the motto Smoking causes poverty'.
The Health Ministry has prepared an elaborate programme focusing on the damaging impact of smoking on people's health.
"Lectures and meeting with community members are being organised by the regional health directorates," a statement from the ministry said yesterday.
Oman enjoys a relatively low prevalence rate of tobacco consumption when compared with some countries of the region, according to a study.
The Omani government is making every effort for tobacco control, including periodically increasing taxes on tobacco products from 50 per cent in 1998 to 100 per cent in 2000.
Briefing WHO sub-regional FCTC workshop participants on the progress made in Oman for tobacco control, Dr Issa Said Al Shuaili from Ministry of Health, said: "The country has already set up a national tobacco control committee, comprising of 13 public and private units."
MUSCAT — W.J. Towell Computer Services has won a prestigious order from British American Tobacco (BAT) to implement a Van Sales Automation System for its network of outlets across the Sultanate, a press release said.
The project entails automation of complete sales and distribution cycle from sales order generation to billing and collections and credit control, the press release said.
just cover them up with a trendy plastic casing, an Italian manufacturer has suggested.
The "Smoke Box" is fashioned from a special recyclable plastic, patented by entrepreneur Giancarlo Pratis -- the only politically-correct feature of a thoroughly cheeky product.
Pratis, who is based in Italy's northwestern industrial capital Turin, hopes to sell as many as five million casings by December and has hired 30 staff on top of his company's regular 10 to handle the expected rush.