Ramadoss lobbies global support to curb smoking

BUTT OF THE MATTER: The conflict between the tobacco lobby and the govt is essentially a conflict between economic and health interest.

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New Delhi: Days after the tobacco lobby forced Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss to remove pictorial warnings from tobacco products, he is seeking help from the international community to help him with the issue.

Speaking before the 5th World Assembly on Tobacco in New Delhi, Ramadoss said, “The anti-forces are huge. My Prime Minister gives me the support but I need a lot more to enforce this activity.”

Ramadoss is seeking support from the 54 countries that are attending the assembly to push through his efforts in fighting tobacco usage.

The move to make pictorial warning compulsory was to be enforced from July 2006 but was postponed till February 2007 and then later to June 2007. On September 29, it was decided to implement it from December 1 but no action has been taken till now.

Use of pictorial warnings on tobacco products have been proved to be effective in 15 countries across the world where tobacco consumption has drastically gone down, especially Thailand which has now become a model for its success in curbing smoking.

But in India the conflict between the tobacco lobby and the government is essentially a conflict between economic interests and health priorities.

A bidi merchant from Allahabad, Shyama Charan Gupta, says, “All I want is that business should not suffer because of this. It should not be completely stopped because this industry employs a lakhs of workers.”

If implemented, the pictorial warnings will cover more than 50 per cent of the area of tobacco products’ packets.

A petition pending in the Himachal High Court will now decide the fate of pictorial warnings on the 13th December.