Tobacco Production Should be Decreased: Dr Ramadoss

Source from:  UNI 03/10/2009

After taking on actors for smoking in the movies, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today trained his guns on tobacco producers saying there was a need to decrease cultivation of tobacco and grow medicinal plants in those lands instead to control tobacco-related diseases in India, China and Indonesia, where much of the world population resides. Interacting with reporters on "Promoting Smoke-free Workplaces in India", Dr Ramadoss said four million hectares of land is used for tobacco cultvation and nearly 30 lakh workers are engaged in beedi making. "We will be able to bring down this tobacco cultivation to fifty per cent by 2020 and give the alternative of cultivating medicinal plants for the farmers surviving on tobacco," Dr Ramadoss, who is leading a crusade against smoking, said. "Being the signatory of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, India will have to do this, which is a herculean task," he observed. Eighty per cent of the tobacco users are in the developing countries, while their numbers are coming down in developed countries, Dr Ramadoss said, adding "In last three decades the number of smokers in India has increased by 300 per cent, while in developed countries it has decreased by 50 per cent." He said 500 billion dollars are being spent on tobacco-related advertisements all over world -- which is more than the spending on health. Enditem