Amongst all the sad news about the extremist bombings in Bangalore and Gujarat today was some good news about what students from USC in California will be doing this summer to help improve education about the risks of oral cancer from chewing Gutka.
Gutka is a mixture of concentrated tobacco and flavourings, developed by tobacco companies. Unfortunately, it is also more addictive than cigarettes, and a market developed almost overnight for the product. While it may be used in every level of society, chewing gutka is particularly common in poorer people.
The main risk factor for development of oral cancer is tobacco. The American Cancer Society described it as thus:
"About 9 out of 10 people with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers use tobacco, and the risk of developing these cancers is related to how much and how long they smoked or chewed."
The USC Stevens Institute for Innovation has partnered with the Deshpande Foundation, a prominent philanthropic foundation focused on innovation and international development, to help student innovators develop scalable ideas for improving the quality of life in specific regions of India. One of their projects is improving awareness of the risks of oral cancer from chewing Gutka.
It is projects in the sub-continent like these that often go unnoticed while the main news channels focus on the violence as more newsworthy items for their readers. Good for CNN for following the students progress with this worthwhile program. You can read more about it here - bookmark it and follow the students progress.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
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