Letter From Toronto

Smoking Can Make People Impotent! By Opiyo Oloya -- In one case, there is a picture of a half-burnt cigarette, with the ashes limply hanging down like a flabby man's sexual appendage Dear Smoker Wait a minute before you light that cigarette, at least until you have heard what Health Canada has to say on the subject. HC, by the way, is the federal regulatory body that takes care of matters pertaining to the well-being of Canadians, from the food they eat to the medication they take when sick. Think of HC as the Mother of all Mothers, always worrying about whether or not you have eaten enough, slept enough, or exercised enough. So, like all good mothers, HC pipes up whenever there is a potential that you might hurt yourself; Don't do that, it's not good for you. And when the stakes are high and your live is in great danger, HC abandons all decorum and, like a lioness, attacks the problem head-on. For example, after years of warning Canadians about the dangers of smoking, which include all manners of cancer and lung-related illnesses, HC has gone one step further by portraying cigarette in the most unflattering light. Since the beginning of this year, cigarette packages have become very plain-absolutely no beautiful smiling face extoling the wonderful virtues of Sportsman, Embassy, Rex or State Express. This, in addition to the fact that newspaper, radio and TV advertisements of tobacco were abandoned many years ago-there is a very hefty fine for even mentioning that cigarette offers a sophisticated lifestyle. Now, HC has begun placing big warnings on the plain cigarette packets. In one case, there is a picture of a half-burnt cigarette, with the ashes limply hanging down like a flabby male sexual appendage. Beside the picture, bold letters blare out- WARNING: TOBACCO USE CAN MAKE YOU IMPOTENT. Then in smaller black prints, the warning continues: Cigarettes may cause sexual impotence due to decreased blood flow to the penis. This can prevent you from having an erection. Health Canada. In another ad, HC has this shocking eye-catching print-WARNING: EACH YEAR: THE EQUIVALENT OF A SMALL CITY DIES FROM TOBACCO USE. Listed in smaller prints is the estimated deaths in Canada in 1996: Murder (510), Alcohol (1 900), Car Accidents (2 900), Suicides (3 900), and Tobacco (45 000). In other words, 83 percent of all Canadian deaths in 1996 was directly related to tobacco use. Imagine waking up one morning to find that so many people had died in Kampala, Masaka, Kotido, Gulu, or Ntugamo-Uganda would be in absolute chaos. Considering the first ad above, impotence may not be your immediate problem if you are a female smoker, but in many men, it is a devastating condition. What some men take for granted when they cuddle with their loved ones, is a nerve-racking event for the men who suffer from this debilitating illness-and they are not few. Viagra, the drug that combats erectile dysfunction in men, became popular overnight precisely because there are people who need it. The question is whether you want to risk sexual virility just for the pleasure of filling your lungs with addictive nicotine. Now, before you scoff at smoking as a male problem, consider the second HC ad Think this: Canada has one of the best healthcare services in the whole world, which means that the death figure from tobacco use could be much higher if it were not for good medicine. Canada has one of the strictest anti-smoking laws in the whole world. There are absolutely no billboards - like those seen along Uganda roads- declaring the joy of smoking. Cigarettes are not advertised on radio, TV, newspaper or magazines sold in Canada. There is a very hefty fine for selling cigarettes to anyone younger than 18 years. Cigarette logos are banned from all sporting and entertainment venues. It is against the law to light up in any government building across Canada, malls, schools, churches, trains, airplanes, buses, taxis, hospitals and so forth. Most Canadian restaurants and hotels must provide a non-smoking section for those who do not smoke. So, as a smoker in Uganda, what are the chances that you will die young from smoking related illnesses? If, given these factors just listed, those 45000 Canadians stood half a chance against early death, you have none. What's the point, you might ask, of telling a Ugandan who is more likely to die from traffic accident or rebel-related violence, that he does not stand a chance against the scourge of cigarette? The point is that this is one of the few instances when you are directly responsible for your health or death. Whereas it is hard to figure out when or where an accident might occur or rebels strike out, only you can stop smoking, and steer your life clear from the likelihood of a very slow, painful death. So, before you take that piece of junk and put it inside your healthy body, think about the consequences to your health. Think about you. Ends