A cyberinterview to Margaretha Haglund, INWAT.SRNT Rio 2007 comes home by GLOBALink .Soon in spainsh.

A cyberinterview to Margaretha Haglund, INWAT.SRNT Rio 2007 comes home by GLOBALink

Dear Margaretha:



1.What would you like to say as INWAT´s Past President?

First of all I like to thank all of those that have supported me throw out all the nine years that I served as president of INWAT. Really it has been a great privilege to represent all our fantastic members. The experience I have got out of this job is difficult to describe in words It is you that have made me the passionate tobacco control person I now am. Today it is more than 20 years since I left my heart in tobacco control.

INWAT has made a lot of progress since it was established in Perth in 1990 but it is now, more than ever, critical that our global networks support action to decrease tobacco consumption among women and girls, ban exploitative marketing practices, regulate safe and equitable production practices, and protect women from exposure to second-hand smoke. It is equally important to push for equality and enhanced women´s rights –living free of tobacco is one of those



2.-Why is tobacco harmful for women?

Women who use tobacco as men will also die as men and perhaps when they are even younger than the men. Unfortunately the impact of smoking on women’s health was not recognized for decades, as men’s health was the benchmark for assessing effects of tobacco use.

Today we know a lot about the harmful effects of smoking on women which among all causes the following;
l Smoking has negative effects on nearly every system of a woman’s body.
l Cigarette smoking dramatically increases the risk of atherosclerosis and heart disease.
l Heart disease is a major cause of death for women in the developed world and, increasingly, in the developing world.
l Women who smoke and simultaneously take oral contraceptives further increase their risk of heart disease.
l Smoking increases the risk of stroke, a major cause of death and disability in women.
l Lung cancer is the most common cancer caused by smoking.
l Lung cancer is surpassing breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death for women in a growing number of developed countries. Smoking increases women’s risk of cancer of mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, bladder, kidney, cervix and uterus.
l New evidence links smoking to breast cancer
l Girls who smoke have poorer lung growth, women who smoke have an earlier decline in lung function.
l Smoking causes women’s emphysema and chronic bronchitis, increases risk of acute lower respiratory illnesses, and worsens asthma.
l Tobacco smoke adds to other lung burdens, such as coal residue and wood smoke, especially in developing countries.
l Smoking increases the risk of painful and irregular menstruation.
l Cigarette smoking can cause reduced fertility in women.
l Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
l Menopause occurs earlier in women who smoke
l Nicotine is an addictive agent.
l Tobacco dependence involves sensory and environmental cues; smell and taste may be more important for women than for men.
l Women are likely to say they smoke to relieve stress, anger, anxiety, boredom, or feelings of unhappiness.
l Smoking is more common among women with mental health conditions.

Passive smoking and women

Passive smoking affects women in their homes as well as in the places where they work outside their homes. Because women frequently do not have the power to negotiate their homes and workplaces to be smoke-free spaces, many women, especially those involved in the hospitality industry are exposed to tobacco smoke with dire consequences for their health.

l More women than men are exposed to secondhand smoke.
l More female non-smokers than male non-smokers develop lung cancer
l Secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer in adults.
l Exposure to secondhand smoke increases risk of breast cancer among non-smoking pre-menopausal women.

Health risks of other forms of tobacco

However cigarette smoking is only part of the tobacco habit. Women also smoke bidis and kreteks (clove cigarettes), cigars,pipes and waterpipes
and chew, rub and plug tobacco like gutkha, pan or use other smokeless tobacco products. In some parts of India as many as 20 per cent of the women used oral tobacco

l Bidis increase risk of cancer of the lung, mouth, stomach and esophagus, and also increase risk of heart disease and chronic bronchitis.
l Water-pipe smoke can lead to complications of pregnancy.
l Smokeless tobacco use during pregnancy reduces fetal birth weight and doubles the risk of still birth

Tobacco and the Economic damage

The negative effects on tobacco on women and girls, and societies are not only due to consumption; they began from the cultivation stage, are exacerbated by gender inequalities, and have impact upon health, education, labour and food security, as well as on economic and ecological poverty.

l Spending on tobacco products reduces available family income.
l Tobacco spending results in less money for food, education, housing and health care.
l Diseases caused by tobacco increase health care costs for the family.

ver más información en vínculo