Delhi Govt. Requests Celebrities To Join Their Anti-Tobacco Campaign, Asks Them To Stop Endorsing Pan Masala!

Source from:  India Times 01/19/2016

Product advertising and endorsements are not just one of the revenue sources for B-Town celebrities, it also boosts up their popularity meter among their fans and audience. Sadly, celebrities might not be seen endorsing pan-masala anymore.

The Delhi government has written to Bollywood actors including Ajay Devgan, Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Govinda, Arbaaz Khan and Sunny Leone and have urged them to not endorse pan masala products since they contain areca nuts, potential cancer causing agent.

According to experts, areca nuts, which is one of the major ingredients in pan masala, is in the league of caffeine, tobacco and alcohol when it comes to addictive properties. Additionally, it also leads to a high number of cases of submucous fibrosis, which can easily turn cancerous.

The Delhi government has also asked the actors to join its anti-tobacco campaign to save the lives of lakhs of people who die due to oral cancer every year.

Dr S K Arora, Additional Director (Health), Delhi government, in his letters, wrote:

"You are often seen on TV and other media advertising pan masala products. Even if these pan masalas do not contain tobacco or nicotine, they surely contain areca nuts (supari) and now there are a lot of scientific evidence which prove that supari causes cancer. Moreover, some of these pan masala advertisements are surrogate advertisements of tobacco products which the manufacturing companies try to promote,"

Dr Arora said tobacco use among Indian women is showing an increasing trend as compared to the rest of the world.

Here are other excerpts from his letter:

"You are the role model for youngsters, they watch you and your lifestyle and habits and try to adopt it. These advertisements attract the vulnerable population, especially, children and females very strategically and are directly and indirectly responsible for the increasing trends of tobacco use among youngsters and females in India.

I humbly request you to not participate in pan masala or any other similar advertisements which are harming our society especially the younger generations.Rather, I request you to join us in anti-tobacco campaign to save lakhs of preventable deaths." Enditem