Tobacco lobby, Cancer, Cow urine

http://morungexpress.com/tobacco-lobby-cancer-cow-urine/

First, a BJP MP in the parliamentary committee looking into rules regarding tobacco sales said that there is no Indian study linking tobacco to cancer. This was followed by another member saying that a lot of chain smokers do not develop cancer. Another BJP MP, again a member of the committee remarked that there is no fool proof evidence that smoking causes cancer.

The context is that the government had planned to increase the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco products from 40% to 85% by April 1 this year. Increase in pictorial warnings is shown to bring down tobacco prevalence. But because the committee brought out these statements, the deadline is crossed without any action being taken. What is going on here? There is no dearth of global and local evidences that tobacco causes cancer. The Indian government’s own study showed that there is a very strong link. But why are these parliamentarians making these statements which are against flood of scientific evidences? It shows how strong the tobacco lobby is, that they have the power to influence not only ordinary people to use tobacco, but decision makers at the top. Incidentally against the rules, a beedi baron is made a member of the parliamentary panel. Tobacco companies have been aggressively moving into developing countries as they are facing reducing levels of smoking in the West.

Tobacco is the main cause of cancer. So, it is not a debate about some controversial factor on the sideline for which there is no concrete evidence yet. The delay in pictorial warning therefore is a serious hurdle in tackling the tobacco menace. Every 6 seconds, someone somewhere is dying because of tobacco. Half of those who smoked today will eventually die of tobacco. According to Global Adults Tobacco Survey, 34.6% of adults are current users of tobacco in India. In Nagaland, it is 57%. A more recent data (DLHS IV) shows that in Nagaland, 64.2% of men and 34.5% of women (15 years and above) use smokeless tobacco. 35% of men and 1.4 % of women smoke.

The tobacco industry’s strong resistance to pictorial warnings is also evidence that those warnings do work. They not only deter people to start using tobacco, they also prevent relapse among former tobacco users. The increase in pictorial warning is an important move. But there are other very important steps that we can take to reduce tobacco use. There is a legislation banning tobacco sale to minors, sale near educational institutions, smoking in public places, and advertisements in any form.

Chandigarh has been declared smoke-free city since 2007. All the districts in Punjab have been declared as ‘tobacco smoke-free’. The State has also banned sales of loose cigarettes (without pictorial warnings). Raids are being periodically conducted to crack down on storage, promotion, and sales of tobacco products. It was able to raise tax on cigarettes from 20.5% to 50%. But this was rolled back after less than a year. Health NGOs allege that this roll back was due to pressure from tobacco companies. Chewable tobacco has been banned recently in Delhi which is now challenged in court.

There is no dearth of evidence. But it is an uphill task to take on the tobacco lobby. Meanwhile, it may be recollected that another BJP MP claimed that cow urine can cure cancers completely. This was said in the context of banning cow slaughter. But there is a connection here between the two issues, that lifting all restrictions on tobacco and serving cow urine to all cancer patients may make sense to these honourable MPs.