Catherine Avorseh
18 July 2002
Koforidua — STUDENTS AT Pope John's Secondary School (POJOSS) in Koforidua who expressed their views after an awareness programme on tobacco admitted that they were ignorant about the harmful effects of tobacco smoking.
They had come to understand that smoking tobacco, as well as passive smoking of it, could cause lung cancer and heart problems.
One student said he initially did not know the true constituents of the product but the programme had enlightened him.
The programme, organised by the Consumer Concerns Initiative (CCI), last week, was to create awareness on the harmful effects of tobacco smoking as well as let the students have an informed choice on the product.
A documentary film screened at the programme depicted tobacco not only as a health hazard but also as an economic and developmental liability.
Addressing the students, Dr. James Teprey, an official from the National Tobacco Steering Committee, emphasized the need for an anti-tobacco campaign.
"There is the need to talk about tobacco because it is a dangerous product, which when abused ends up killing the consumer," he said.
Dr. Teprey observed that development countries, realizing the dangers inherent in the product, have put in place an embargo to check its use and advocated that the same should be done in Ghana.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) official, Mrs. Sophia Twum Barimah, took the students through the hazards tobacco smoking poses to humans and the environment, and explained preventive measures.
The legal committee chairman of CCI, Mr. Steven Ahiawordor, appealed to the school authorities to form a consumer club in the school, which will educate the students on their rights as consumers.
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