The Government on Tuesday deferred the implementation of the decision for increasing the size of pictorial health warning on cigarette packets and other products based on tobacco. The decision came even as Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday trashed comments by a Parliamentary panel head and BJP MP Dilip Gandhi that there was no Indian study to confirm that tobacco use leads to cancer — a remark which has led to widespread criticism.
The anti-tobacco activists questioned the Government’s decision to defer the new 85 per cent pictorial warnings on both sides of all tobacco products that were to come into effect from 1 April. The medical fraternity and the Opposition parties too slammed Gandhi, an MP from Maharashtra who heads the Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate legislations examining the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, for his remarks that all studies in regard to health hazards of tobacco consumption have come from abroad and one should consider the Indian aspect too.
Disapproving Gandhi’s statement at a Press conference, Javadekar said, “Do not listen to these things. Science is science. You cannot compromise on science.” The panel had “strongly” urged the Government to keep on hold its proposal to increase the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco packets from 40 per cent to 85 per cent. “All agree on the harmful effects of tobacco. But there is no Indian survey report to prove that tobacco consumption leads to cancer. All the studies are done abroad.”
He said the Committee has only sought deferment of tobacco warnings till it looks into the whole issue in the Indian context and not be driven by foreign surveys. Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh demanded a probe to find out whether there was any connection between BJP and cigarette manufacturers while NCP MP Supriya Sule expressed “shock” at the remarks and termed it as “unfortunate”. “I am not alarmed but I am shocked anybody can make a statement like that. It is very unfortunate... Maybe he is misinformed or misled by somebody,” she said.
“I think that is the most absurd comment that could have been made. We are all aware that the amount of research that has been done on cancer in our country because India is one of the countries which has the largest incidence of cancer,” said Ulka Bangui of the Society.
Strangely, the Health Ministry reacted by saying merely that “we will have to take all the stakeholders on board. We cannot ignore the recommendations by the parliamentary panel.”