World No Tobacco Day 2013: Forget Coalgate & Railgate, clamp down on Tobaccogate

May 31 is World No Tobacco Day. The author Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi is a professor and cancer surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital and one of the most prominent anti-tobacco campaigners in the country.

By: Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi | | Updated: August 6, 2013 11:36 am

May 31 is World No Tobacco Day. The author Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi is a professor and cancer surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital and one of the most prominent anti-tobacco campaigners in the country. His efforts have been lauded around the world and he was recently awarded the Wilkenfeld award in the US for his innovative leadership. The views expressed here are the personal views of the author. Health.India.com doesn’t necessarily endorse those views. Also Read - Chances of tobacco addiction high among school-college students: Here’s why

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It is a well-known fact 50% of all cancer cases caused in India are caused by tobacco use. In my work (I am a Professor and Cancer Surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai), I see young people affected with the most horrible cancers every day and most of them die within weeks of diagnosis. Tobacco kills every third user prematurely through cancer, heart attack, stroke, etc. You will realise the sheer gravity of the situation when you realise that over 27 crore Indians are hooked to tobacco. Consider this, the World War II – considered the deadliest conflict in human history had over 50 million casualties. In comparison, it’s estimated that tobacco has killed 1 billion people in the last century. Also Read - WHO chief self quarantines after coming in contact with COVID-19 infected person

It is the only consumer product that is almost guaranteed to cause death, disease and disability and even the industry that sells it admits it on its labels. According to WHO, tobacco addiction is a ‘disease’. How can we promote an industry selling death and disease to every third Indian solely for profits?

And with this background, while the nation is preoccupied with Coalgate, Railgate and IPL match-fixing, we’re completely missing out one of the greatest tragedies to afflict our nation. While most scams involve financial bungling, this scam that I like to call ‘Tobaccogate’ is causing 3,300 deaths every day.

Is the tobacco industry really benefiting people?

As per the UN Declaration 2010, there is a fundamental conflict between the interest of the tobacco industry and public health. While tobacco as a crop has no utility for mankind, we’re constantly told that if we eradicate tobacco plantations then we will rob 70 lakh people of their livelihood. But are the livelihood of those 70 lakh more important than the lives of 27 crore Indians who’re hooked to tobacco? And it’s not as if these Indians are becoming wealthy or even earning a decent living. Almost everyone knows that the smokeless tobacco and bidi industry is run by a few politically powerful families. So while farmers, bidi rollers and vendors continue to live in abject poverty, these industrialists-turned politicians are earning vulgar profits.

Keep it away from our children

Tobacco isn’t like most people believe a matter of individual choice, it’s an addiction. The products are highly addictive and barely 2% Indians are able to quit tobacco usage after they start the habit. Most of them quit after being diagnosed with fatal illnesses like cancer and even then some of them can’t quit. The only way forward is to strongly enforce the laws that have been created to protect children from being exposed to tobacco. Currently, 80% of tobacco shops are doing flourishing business near schools and exposed to tobacco. Hookah bars too continue to flourish with the help of the enforcement agencies. The latest modus operandi of the tobacco industry is going all-out to catch them young.

It is really unfortunate that food authorities failed to ban gutka despite the regulation that came into force in 2011 banning its production, sale and manufacture. It was a civil society agitation and support from judiciary that forced state governments to ban it all over India. But despite imposing the ban, many states are making a poor show of ban enforcement.

While it’s the true the Ministry of Health has embarked on a National Tobacco Control Program there are other ministries that are counteracting that:

The Ministry of Commerce nurtures the Tobacco Board that promotes the growth of tobacco.
The Ministry of Agriculture continues make tobacco farming lucrative
The Ministry of Finance remains resistant to higher taxation on tobacco (Despite recent budget increases and higher levies, tobacco is relatively cheap in India)
The Ministry of Home shows virtually no interest in enforcing anti-tobacco laws.
The Ministry of Education shows little sensitivity in enforcing the policy of Tobacco Free Educational Institutions to protect children from getting hooked to tobacco.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is sympathetic to the film and television industry that wants laws to suit them rather than society.
The Ministry of Food and Drugs have shown extreme tolerance towards violation of ban on Gutka and tobacco containing Pan Masala. They are also resistant to idea of recognizing Betel Nut/Areca Nut as harmful food that is currently being marketed as a mouth freshener.

And to top it all the Central Government through the public sector Life Insurance Companies and Banks, holds nearly 25% shares of ITC Ltd, the country’s biggest cigarette manufacturer. President Pranab Mukherjee himself conferred CII’s 2012 Sustainability Award on ITC Ltd. A Padma Award was recently conferred on ITC Chairman, and Reserve Bank of India made him a member of its Board of Directors.

With so much government backing, is it any surprise that the cigarette industry gets away with the least effective and meaningless pictorial warning in the entire world? Is it surprising that surrogate advertisement continues to make a mockery of the law? The theme this year’s campaign is ‘Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship’. What are we doing about it? How can we expect justice in this regard when many of our cabinet ministers and opposition leaders (Members of Parliament) are legal counsels representing the tobacco industry and earning fat legal fees? How can we expect action against Tobaccogate while all political parties are being funded by huge donations from the tobacco industry?

Tobaccogate is not just a massive financial scam punching a big hole in the nation’s public health budget; it is also a huge man-made calamity killing 10 lakh Indians every year. How long can we continue to live with such a massive calamity or man-made epidemic? Does it not weigh on our collective conscience? Let us work together to bring an end to Tobaccogate before it affects our own kids.

Published : May 31, 2013 9:00 am | Updated:August 6, 2013 11:36 am

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