Banning of smoking in public very laudable – Dr Akuamoah-Boateng

Dr Jacob Akuamoah-Boateng, Chief Executive Officer of Mab Group of Companies and Megavest Medicare Centre, has described as laudable the passage of the Public Health Bill which prohibits smoking in public, into law.

Dr Akuamoah-Boateng in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said the passage of the Bill should have been done long ago considering the effects of tobacco smoking on the individual, especially the passive or the second-hand smokers.

He said tobacco contains 5,000 irritating chemicals like lead and carbon monoxides that cause cancer and make one addictive and that 5,000 people die annually in the US due to tobacco smoking.

Dr Akuamoah-Boateng said 85 per cent of lung cancer deaths in the US are caused by tobacco smoking, and heart attacks amount to 60 and 70 per cent as well as 18.5 per cent deaths which occur at all out patient departments (OPDs) have something to do with tobacco smoking.

He said those who suffer most are the passive and unborn babies, co-workers and women whose husbands smoke saying “these passive smokers suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary Diseases (COPD) that can be prevented”.

“It is false when smokers say they feel relaxed after smoking because the heart beats between 12 and 25 times faster than normal when one smokes and that the burden on State funds in incurring smoke-related diseases outweighs the pleasure that smokers refer to,” he concluded.**