India tops list with maximum mouth cancer patients

Kanpur, May 31 (UNI) The growing consumption of tobacco products has put India on top of the list, with maximum number of people suffering from mouth cancer in the country.

According to senior doctors of the country, about 90 per cent of the people suffering from mouth cancer are major consumers of tobacco and cigarette.

Where a mouth cancer patient succumbs in every ten seconds in the World, at least two patients die per minute of the disease in India.

To create an awareness of tobacco consequences among the people on the occasion of Anti World Tobacco Day, the Indian Medical Association and Lions Club, Kanpur burned a bonfire of tobacco products.

Senior Oral Cancer Expert Dr A K Mehrotra said ''Rs 1100 crore is generated as revenue from the tobacco industry every year, but an estimated Rs 24,000 crore is spent by the central goverment on tobacco related diseases.'' President of Indian Medical Association Dr Kuldeep Saxena said ''tobacco comprises harmful elements. Its consumption badly affects heart, stomach, kidney and brain.'' The number of tobacco consumers in India has reached around 16 crore and seven crore among men and women respectively, which was still increasing at a high rate.

UNI