Anti tobacco activist demands ban on tobacco farming

Source from:  The Times of India MANJIRI MADHAV DAMLE  06/01/2004

PUNE: Anti tobacco activist Kalyan Gangwal has demanded status of narcotics to tobacco and ban on tobacco farming in a phased manner in a bid to curb tobacco addiction among Indian people. Gangwal made this demand while speaking to TNN on Sunday on the eve of world no tobacco day observed on May 31. He has also submitted a memorandum to state and union government listing these demands. Giving tobacco related statistics pertaining to India, Gangwal said that as per estimates over 142 million men and 37 million women above 15 years of age regularly used tobacco. Approximately 4 million children under the age of 15 consumed tobacco products in our country, he stated. Gangwal, also a medical practitioner, revealed that tobacco was re-ported to cause around 6.35 lakh deaths annually and as many as 25 per cent of all persons above the age of 40 in urban India who smoked reportedly suffered from chronic bronchitis. "The number of avoidable cases of chronic heart disease and chronic obstructive lung disease has been estimated at 12 million per year", he added. Gangwal said that the incidence of oral cancer caused by tobacco chewing in India was one of the world's highest - about one third of all cancer cases, with 90 per cent of the patients being tobacco chewers. Throwing light on tobacco's impact on environment, Gangwal stated that the tobacco industry was depleting forest re-sources as much of the tobacco produced in developing countries required upto 25 kg of wood for curing each kg of tobacco. It has been reported that the pesticides and fertilisers used by tobacco farmers degraded the soil and polluted water sources. Gangwal told TNN that on the occasion of world no tobacco day, he has sent a memorandum to state and union governments suggesting ways to curb tobacco addiction. "Tobacco contained nicotine so it should be given the status of narcotics so as to enable government to enforce narcotics related laws to prevent tobacco addition", he observed. He felt that the government should make it mandatory to write a health warning stating that "tobacco caused heart disease, cancer and impotence" on all tobacco products. The anti tobacco activist also suggested that tobacco farming be banned in a phased manner on lines with ganja and brown sugar farming. Enditem