More people in India die due to smoking bidis than all other forms of tobacco combined..

May 16, 2008 - More people in India die due to smoking bidis than all other forms of tobacco combined.. 100 million people in India smoke bidi (beedi) and more people die due to smoking bidis than all other forms of tobacco combined, says a bidi monograph, the first study of the kind conducted anywhere in the world. for every cigarette, eight bidis are sold in India. And what's worse, nearly 2.3% children, aged 13-15 years, have taken to it. While 19 per cent of tobacco consumption in India is in the form of cigarettes, 53 per cent is smoked as bidis. At present, 800,000 people die due to tobacco consumption in India, among whom 600,000 should be due to bidis alone." Bidi may contain lesser tobacco than cigarettes — 0.2 grams, but delivers as much or more tar and nicotine. The monograph, 'Bidi and Public Health' authored jointly by Dr P C Gupta from Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health and Dr Samira Asma from Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta), in partnership with the health ministry, WHO and US Department of Health and Human Services. Definition bidi (beedi) - a cigarette made by rolling tobacco by hand in a dried leaf from the tendu tree (a member of the ebony family). Most bidis are made in India and they come in different flavors. (National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer Terms) 
References: Bidis killing 6 lakh every year: Report,Kounteya Sinha, 5/13/2008; Beedi...India's Silent Killer, 5/13/2008. Click on image to enlarge.. - Incomplete..