Qwitter rant

I didn't know that Friday May 31 was World No Tobacco Day.  Otherwise, I would have yanked out the cigarettes from smokers' mouths in that crowded bar I had to suffer in Friday night.  I definitely was smelling like ciggy smoke when I staggered out at 2:00 in the morning, albeit thankful and thinking that there had been no more explosions since the blast at Serendra Two that killed, at least as of now, six innocent bystanders.

As an initiative to drum up awareness about the perils of smoking, World No Tobacco Day seemed to have been relatively unsuccessful.  I wish there had been more of a blitz to drive home the fact that there are serious health risks that come with tobacco use and addiction, risks that many people just have to ignore even if it slaps their faces and brutalizes their lungs once they're addicted.

Yes, I saw a news report that YosiKadiri, the mascot dummy used as a stand in for all the evils of smoking, had been sighted doing battles with Superman and Batman, and losing for all the world to see.  But that news report was the day after.  What about all those days leading up to it?  Where was the publicity drive and the gimmicks?

The stats say tobacco use kills one in every ten adult users.  So that's a 10 percent fatality rate, less than the mysterious coronavirus in Saudi Arabia with 50 percent mortality rate, but high nonetheless, since this one's entirely preventable.  Yup, all people has to do is not pick up that innocuous white stick, and they wouldn't even run that particular risk.

The World Health Organization stats also say tobacco kills three and a half million people every year, with 10 percent of that, or 350,000, being non smokers who breathe second hand smoke. (Horrors.  That was me last night).  Then there's news of a new way to kill us, third hand smoking, which is when the toxins from cigarette smoke clings to bedsheets and walls and furniture, and are then inhaled by unsuspecting passers-by.  (Yes, demand a non-smoking floor every time you check in a hotel!). We also have news that electronic cigarettes carry with it other toxins as yet untested and potentially equally dangerous, and what message do we get?  That there's really no way around it.  Stop smoking.

So, it really doesn't help when I see hot pictures of the guy touted to be the first Filipino supermodel, Paolo Roldan, with exclusive contracts with Givenchy and photoshoots for Vogue whatever, showing him leaning over a balcony, all hunky and lean, with a ciggy hanging from his chiseled cheekbones.

Fine, he posted it on Twitter (I think) and it's also on Facebook, which are supposed to be relatively private venues, but still.  Doesn't help his fledgling career in the Philippines.  Doesn't help his image.  Doesn't do any good for the anti-tobacco drive, with a sexy supermodel with billboards in EDSA showing his killer bod coupled with an instrument for murder and suicide.

Calling the companies who pay Paolo Roldan an arm and a leg for him to show his arms and legs! (Oh, and abs).  Maybe you can hit two birds with one endorsement fee!  Show him wearing your products and at the same time, pushing quitting!  Urging young people who want to be as sexy as him or old people who want to just ogle him, to quit smoking.  That would be a great societal contribution.  But yes, Paolo has to quit smoking in real life.

Thankfully, within the University I so proudly graduated from, a smoking ban has been imposed and enforced since 2007.  No selling of tobacco within the campus. No advertising of cigarettes.  It's a ban, and the more it's discouraged, the better.  (If I find out that the Friday night explosion in Serendra was caused by cigarettes, I will be rightfully indignant.)

More than 80 percent of the deaths from smoking will come from poor third world countries. (Hello, Philippines!). The more that we allow our citizens to live, the less we have to pay in healthcare, and the more productive citizens we have.  And as an incentive for our corporate citizens, the more consumers you'll have who will buy your products!  (I like these simple logical conclusions I make after a hazy smoky night.  Not that I'm glamourizing smoking.  I'm just remarking I'm surprised I'm still making sense.  At least, to me.)

I should quit while I'm ahead.   Not smoking, as I did that eons ago. And you should too.