Booze, fags kill over 40,000 Lankans annually

In Sri Lanka 20,000 persons die of liquor addiction annually and another 20,000 die from smoking. Altogether 40,000 persons die from consuming liquor and tobacco annually.

The tsunami killed 40,000 persons, but liquor and alcohol kills the same number of people annually, Dr. Neil Fernando, Consultant Psychiatrist, Angoda Mental Hospital said.

Dr. Fernando said the way that the electronic media responds to banning of alcohol visuals creates more curiosity among children because of the blocked visuals.

A new methods of blocking visuals related to liquor consumption without rousing the curiosity of children should be introduced.

What parents should do is to educate them on the negative impacts of tobacco and alcohol consumption when they get curious.

According to Dr. Fernando, multinational companies conduct very effective regular researches on winning more and more customers for their alcohol and tobacco products and targeting all age groups especially children under the age of 7.

Children below the age of seven do not have the ability to measure something and get both sides of the actual story.

Speaking about suicides he said that Sri Lanka recorded the highest suicide rate in the world in 1996 with 9,000 persons committing suicide within the year. Then 24 persons committed suicide per day and one person in every hour.

Sri Lanka media has been contributing to the increase in the number of suicides by giving publicity to the methods used to commit suicide and portraying the persons who committed suicide as heroes.