It brings a smile to your face when you hear of a fellow Indian proudly telling a foreigner that Paan is part of Indian culture. Although paan is a part of our culture, are we also proud of the fact that it causes health hazards and impacts our health in a negative way? People who eat Paan choose to spit out the betel juice instead of swallowing it, since it is said to be harmful. Well, spitting it out in the common and public areas is not harmless for others either.
Wherever you go in India, you can see Paan stains. Corners of public buildings, corridors, public walls, railway platforms, parks and even the religious places have not been spared of these grimy red stains. Even the garbage cans provided by the municipality have been gladly used as spittoons.
The Howrah Bridge in Kolkata is also heavily damaged due to the corrosion caused by the spitting of paan masala on the poles of the bridge increasing the process of oxidation and damaging it further, which is extremely dangerous as it proves to risk 1000s of lives over the incompetence of a few citizens.
Saliva is a prime carrier of a lot of airborne diseases that increase the risk of other people catching it. Especially in the rural areas, spitting is a major vector in spreading diseases like viral meningitis, hepatitis, and tuberculosis
From 2020 to 2021 one of the ways people used to get covid was from the virus being spread by spitting.
Our mouth contains the small particles of any disease that our body have and when we spit or sneeze with our mouth open these particles are thrown out in the surrounding air at great speed. Anyone who would be nearby can then inhale these particles and subsequently contract the disease.
It is also harmful for the environment and cleanliness of the city. Such bad habit should be ceased immediately. Yet, even after the government has spread awareness and has taken some measures to tackle this situation by fining people, the people have not changed. Although these measures are not implemented well, people should be responsible enough not to spit in public places and spread the germs which results in impacting the health of others.
How do you stop this habit?
The first step to stop spitting could be by spreading the message through multiple media campaigns – social media, radio, TV, newspapers, public advertisements, billboards etc. all would be required to reach every one of our citizens.
Films and television also have a key role to play in the advent of spitting. As several actors promote as being the brand ambassadors and support popular paan masala and gutka brands and are the role model of the people, they should also be asked to speak about their harmful effects.
At the same time, awareness should also be created about keeping our surroundings clean to prevent diseases like dengue by having regular sessions in school with students doing street plays demonstrating the same.
Another way to stop people from spitting is by putting a ban on advertising of Paan masala and other products which are injurious to health during popular events like the IPL or the world cup as men, women, and especially children are extremely impressionable to the glamourisation that these advertisements convey.
We should also try to implement methods which other countries are using to prevent spitting, penalizing whereby also an increase in the fines for spitting in public places, putting up no-spitting posters.
Security guards infront of public or government owned building should be in charge of the cessation of any gutka or paan owner entering the building without discarding it properly first.
It is crucial to bring an end to an era of red stained public spaces and ensure that others are not put in harm’s way because of one’s bad habits. I am sure it is possible if each one of us make just simple efforts of being responsible to keep our environment clean, safe and healthy
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