“It is not too late, you can still stop it” – this was the message that the students of the Postgraduate and Research Department of Biotechnology of Hindusthan College of Arts and Science wanted to convey to smokers here on Tuesday. The day was dedicated to creating awareness on ill-effects of smoking.
Students portrayed the harm that tobacco use can cause through skits, mimicry acts and poetry and the efforts that youth should take to curb the habit of smoking. The whole programme was conceived after the students of the Department got motivated on hearing the experience of an undergraduate student who quit smoking after being a chain smoker.
This was after his father, who too was a chain smoker, developed a serious ailment.
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According to Maria Tomy, second-year student of the Department, once the UG and PG students of the Department heard him recount his experience, they decided to take some initiative to curb the use of tobacco because many college-going youth were into the habit of smoking, consuming alcohol and even taking drugs.
Paranthaman Boopathi, Consultant Psychiatrist, Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, spoke to the students on the smoking habit and its influence on the individual’s life.
They were explained on how tobacco use reduced one’s potential to think, influenced change in behaviour, and led to a series of behavioural changes that resulted in psychiatric problems.
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Eight skits showcasing situations in which youth were led astray and initiated into bad habits and measures that family members, friends and peers took to make them overcome the habit, were performed.
G. Rajalakshmi, Head of the Department, said that in addition to this, students of the Department demonstrated first aid measures to be taken in case of snake and insect bites that were poisonous, in case of cardiac arrest, and a few other life-threatening accidents.
The highlight was the human chain formed by all students and staff to resemble the words “No Smoking”.