A Little History About World No Tobacco Day

The World Health Organization (WHO) created World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) in 1987 as a way to bring worldwide attention to the tobacco epidemic we’re up against on the planet today. The first World No Tobacco Day was celebrated on April 7, 1987. Since then, it has been observed on May 31st of every year.

Graphic Tobacco Health Warnings Do Work:

Findings of studies conducted in Brazil, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand reviewing the effects graphic images on tobacco packaging have on smokers are encouraging.

• All countries saw an increase in the attention smokers gave to the health risks associated with tobacco use.

• All countries reported that large numbers of smokers said the pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs made them want to quit smoking.

• Malaysia reported that upwards of 25% of smokers polled smoked less at home because of the warnings

• Singapore reported that one in six smokers said they stopped smoking in front of children because of the warnings.

Students�from Huaibei Health School gesticulate around a 5-meter-long gigantic cigarette, a hand-made model for a smoking-deserting publicity on the World No Tobacco Day which falls on May 31, on their campus in Huaibei, east China’s Anhui Province, May 30, 2009. (Xinhua/Li Bo) www.ChinaView.cn

Happy Celebrating Mother’s Day

The modern Mother’s Day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis as a day for each family to honor its mother, and it’s now celebrated on various days in many places around the world. It complements Father’s Day, the celebration honoring fathers.

This holiday is relatively modern, being created at the start of the 20th century, and should not be confused with the early pagan and Christian traditions honoring mothers, or with the 16th century celebration of Mothering Sunday, which is also known as Mother’s Day in the UK.

In most countries the Mother’s Day celebration is a recent holiday derived from the original US celebration. Exceptions are, for example, the Mothering Sunday holiday in the UK.

Mother’s Day is celebrated on different days throughout the world. Examining the trends in Google searches for the term “mother’s day” shows two primary results, the smaller one on the fourth Sunday in Lent, from the British tradition of Mothering Sunday (it is also called ladies day and women’s day), and the larger one on the second Sunday in May.

The extent of the celebrations varies greatly. In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one’s mother not to mark Mother’s Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture (compare the celebrations of Diwali in the UK and the United States).

Mother, We Love You !