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Number of female smokers up

NU Online  ·  Jumat, 28 Mei 2010 | 01:25 WIB

Jakarta, NU Online
Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said the number of female smokers in Indonesia had been increasing each year.

"The result of a national survey shows that there has been constant increase," she said when addressing World Tobacco-Free Day at her office in Jakarta Thursday.<<>;br />
In his written address to the seminar on dealing with tobacco problems, the Director General of Disease Control and Environmental Health of the Ministry of Health said that the number of female smokers in 1995 reached only 1.7 percent, and in 2007 their number had increased to 5,06 percent.

The minister said it was result of the promotional campaigns of the tobacco industry which had become increasingly aggressive.

In the past, female smokers were considered as naughty and wild. The notion has changed gradually, so that they no longer felt ashamed of smoking, and many even felt rather proud in smoking like men, she said. Actually, she added, smoking is detrimental to health, and raised the family`s budget.

Cigarette smoke contains dangerous gas components like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, oxides from nitrogen and hydrocarbon dioxide, and many other hazardous chemicals like tar, nicotine, benzopirene, phenol, and cadmium.

The gas and particles in cigarette smoke cause lung disorders, like chronic bronchitis and asthma. (ant/dar)