PANAJI
National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) India has appealed to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan to support the cause of anti-tobacco and anti paan masala movement by withdrawing from surrogate paan masala advertisement so that the initiation towards such addictions in children would be curbed and precious lives in India could be saved.
In a letter to Bachchan, the NOTE president Dr Shekhar Salkar has pointed out that tobacco and paan masala consumption is decaying the health of Indians, especially youth. Medical research has shown that an increase in tobacco and paan masala usage aggravates the risk of cancer, heart and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. With the implementation of strict laws for deterrence and national tobacco control programs by the government of India, along with the diligent work of NGOs, the trend of tobacco and paan masala usage is on the decline. “However dubious means of surrogate advertising, flamboyant on-screen depictions and ostentatious proxy hoardings are conflicting the cause,” points out Dr Salkar in his letter to Big B.
The letter intends to bring to Bachchan’s notice the latest audio-visual advertisement ‘Kamala Pasand’ featuring him and another junior actor, as the surrogate advertisement not only promotes ‘paan masala’ but also motivates initiation and consumption of such products, especially in children.
Paan (betel leaf and betel nut quid) can act as a direct carcinogen, recent research has shown that the substances in betel quid could be changed into carcinogens in the body, leading to oral cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) accept the scientific evidence that chewing betel quid (paan) is carcinogenic to humans. The letter has quoted scientific references to back the above information.
“As an oncologist and member of NGO working in the field of tobacco cessation, I am aggrieved and provoked to wage war against the dubious measures, as such embellishment done by various influential and famous Bollywood actors like Shahrukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh, Hritik Roshan has led to increasing tobacco use among students, an age category that has now become a target audience for cigarette and tobacco companies. We consider the above names trivial, however you are the superstar of the millennium and a person with humanity, professionalism and integrity and we look up to you as pride of India,” states Dr Salkar.
