Jump to full article: NSTP e-Media (my), 2009-05-16
Author: JOHAN JAAFFAR
Intro: THOSE disgusting images on the packets of cigarettes mean little to smokers. . . .
Some years ago the regional office for the Western Pacific of the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that half of all Malaysian men smoke. The study also showed that every day about 50 teenagers below 18 begin to smoke and about 30 per cent of boys aged between 12 and 18 smoke.
WHO acknowledges the fact that the Western Pacific Region, which includes East Asia and the Pacific, has the highest smoking rate in the world. . . .
We should think out of the box. The answer does not lie only in campaigns to deter people from smoking. We should now harp on people changing their lifestyles. Modern life dictates certain conventions. A hectic lifestyle is unavoidable. Eating habits, too, have a major bearing on our people's health. . . .
Learn from Adnan Osman, the 67-year-old sportsman extraordinaire. He quit smoking only when he was 50. The decision changed his life. He has since run 12 marathons, climbed all 12 mountains above 2,100 metres in this country, reached the peak of Gunung Tahan 15 times and Mount Kinabalu thrice. He attempted to cycle all the way to Beijing for the last Olympics, only to be turned away at the border. He has just completed the most gruelling foot race in the world, the Marathon of the Sands in Morocco.
Adnan did not quit because of the frightening images on the packets of cigarettes. He did it because he wanted to change his lifestyle for the better. There are lessons to be learnt here. It takes more than warnings, campaigns and sin taxes to make people quit smoking. The determination to turn a new leaf and to be healthy made Adnan quit his 33-year old habit.
He should appear on the packets of cigarettes, not those hideous images.
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