al-Tadkhin wa Kayfa Nahmi al-Jil al-Jadid Minhu

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al-Tadkhin wa Kayfa Nahmi al-Jil al-Jadid Minhu

al-Tadkhin wa Kayfa Nahmi al-Jil al-Jadid Minhu (Smoking and How We Protect the New Generation from It) is a health and social treatise written by Adil Muhammad Fahmi Murad that examines the epidemic of tobacco use and outlines a comprehensive societal strategy to prevent youth and adolescents from taking up smoking .

Background and Recognition

The work was recognized in Egypt by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, where Murad was awarded the Prize for the Development of Innovation and Invention in the Field of Health Problems for the year 1419 AH / 1998 CE, under a certificate issued on 5 January 1999 by the president of the academy, Hamdi Abd al-Aziz Mursi .

Content and Arguments

The book begins with statistical data on global and regional tobacco consumption, noting that seven multinational companies controlled approximately 90% of global tobacco production, distributing higher-tar cigarettes to developing nations . It highlights that smoking rates were expanding in Africa, Latin America, and Asia while declining in Europe and North America . In Egypt, smoking reached significant levels among professionals, including 54% of schoolteachers and 42% of physicians (rising to 50% among cardiologists), contrasted with only 18% among athletes .

Murad argues that disseminating medical facts alone is insufficient to curb smoking, as evidenced by the high prevalence of the habit among healthcare professionals who understand its risks . A survey cited in the text indicates that mandatory health warnings on cigarette packages often elicit indifferent or dismissive reactions among youth, and direct prohibitions can sometimes lead to counterproductive results . Consequently, he emphasizes identifying psychological motivations—such as habituation, anxiety reduction, social imitation of parents (45%), and peer pressure (90%)—as the necessary starting point for intervention .

Proposed Strategy and Outreach

The author advocates for an integrated national campaign lasting at least one full year, organized across several societal pillars :

  • Healthcare and Religious Guidance: The Ministry of Health should establish free psychological clinics for cessation, while religious scholars frame tobacco abstinence around divine principles and the duty to avoid self-harm .
  • Educational and Social Role Models: Schools and clubs should promote sports and youth activities, and establish an "Honor Charter of Role Models" (mithaq al-qudwa) encouraging doctors, teachers, and parents to quit under slogans such as "Tobacco-Free Homes for a Better Generation" .
  • Targeted Media and Medical Awareness: Visual and print media should present compelling coverage of specific medical consequences—including cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, gastrointestinal damage, maternal and fetal complications, passive smoking's cognitive effects on children, and impacts on fertility .
  • Dramatic Production and Arts: Literary authors and dramatists should craft purposeful narratives that depict the familial and psychological strain caused by smoking, broadcast real-life accounts from intensive care units, present testimonials from public figures who quit, and explore successful international precedents—such as Norway's anti-tobacco initiatives—as well as modern clinical cessation methods .

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