Here is my final point. About drugs, about alcohol, about smoking and everything else. What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I meet, what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet? Oh, did I just sound like one of the wannabe-cool-for-their-age kids or minors as they hate to be addressed on the cigarette boxes. A cigarette might be a happily accepted company during meals and in the intervals between them but only for an adult who is completely aware of the reactions of his actions. However, for a minor who is just trying to seem cool to his peers, its alarming. When a small under-the-chin-beard by Amir Khan made beards pop under all the chins, why should watching Shahrukh smoke on the screen or smoke from Arjun Rampal’s lips or Vivek’s stunt with cigarettes not boost the tobacco industry. But its sad to know that the kids who fail to sport an Amir beard, go the Shahrukh smoking way. Cigarettes are injurious to health. I had to say this, though I know its like saying the Sun is hot.

Worldwide, four million people a year die from smoking — that’s 11000 people every day. Every 6.5 seconds a current or former smoker dies, according to the World Health Organization. In India, about 1 million Indians a year die from smoking-related diseases, that’s more than 2,500 people daily. Half of Indian males use tobacco and it is becoming more popular with younger people. Around 100 million people died because of tobacco use in the 20th century. Tobacco use will kill 1 billion people in the 21st century if current smoking trends continue. There is a huge lot of people who was better of without these details. There are some circles in America where it seems to be more socially acceptable to carry a hand-gun than a packet of cigarettes.

A cigarette is a pipe with a fire at one end and a fool at the other. And now there’s a Japanese company which is determined to decide the age of the fool.

All the parents, worldwide, couldn’t have asked for more. In a desperate and much-needed effort, the Tobacco Institute of Japan has come up with an RFID card or a Taspo card to check the sale of cigarettes to the underage populace. Well, wish it was a card which beeped like an ambulance alarm whenever it sensed a cigarette in a minor’s hand and got converted into a robot which would slap the minor so hard that the memories of the slap harped back each time the kid thought of smoking and became a card again. Its not. It’s a basic identity card available only to those over 20, which is both the age of majority in Japan and the age at which one can buy tobacco products. All the adults, who like their cigarette served hot from a vending machine, are supposed to carry the card. The card need not be inserted into the machine but just needs to be held up to the sensors. There is an electronic money or ‘Pidel’, to be used specifically with the Taspo cards. This Pidel might not work with all the vending machines. The card needs to be held at a proper distance from the sensor, for it to read it and approve the purchase.

Since this project is in its nascent stage, there will be some hiccups which might make it sound fussy initially. But this doesn’t rob the company of the credit it deserves for having given minor smoking a thought and for having worked towards curbing it.

This Project has its own share of flaws. Like there is no way of stopping the kids buy their smoke through adults. The adults who crib and complain will be surprised to know that most of the times the first cigarettes the children get are from adults. Then there are people who would think that their privacy is being invaded if they part with their personal information. This probably is just one of the plethora-of-steps needed to be followed to address this cancerous issue, quite literally at that. Research has shown that advertising may encourage children to start smoking. Siblings and parents are role models for children. If a child’s parents smoke they are three times more likely to smoke themselves.

The adults should realize their social responsibilities and take steps to prevent this.

Or they can try to ape Douglas Adams who said : If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.

Something for the Bush.

We have it. The smoking gun. The evidence. The potential weapon of mass destruction we have been looking for as our pretext of invading Iraq. There’s just one problem - it’s in North Korea.

Source: Tech