Jump to full article: New Kerala.com (in), 2006-10-09
Author: Sangzuala Hmar, Aizawl, Oct 9
Intro: Although women in Mizoram are literate enough to understand the ill effects of tobacco, a staggering 60 percent of them consume it in various forms making them the most cancer prone in the country.
Recent figures of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) shows more than 22 percent Mizo women smoked against a national average of only 2.5 percent, said Jane R. Ralte, principal investigator of the state's Tobacco Cessation Centre.
"It is an alarming statistics," she said.
The reason is all too evident here. Apart from smoking and use of other tobacco products, a unique tobacco smoke-infused water is consumed extensively by Mizo women.
The product, called 'Tuibur', is made locally by passing smoke generated by burning tobacco through water until the preparation turns cognac in colour and has a pungent smell.
Besides this, 'Meizial', another local tobacco product, which comes in the form of 'beedis' (hand-rolled cigarettes), is also popular among women.
The Tobacco Cessation Centre assessed that the annual death rate among women who smoked in the age group of 45 to 74 years was twice as high as that of those who abstained from the habit. . . .
community elders, especially in the remote areas of the state, still insisted that smoking was the best insect repellent and this encouraged women to smoke.
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