"Ever since 1998, when tobacco companies were forced to make documents public, we have had an idea of strategies used by tobacco companies to hoodwink governments and underplay the harms of tobacco use while informing the public," Ehsan Latif, director of the department of tobacco control for the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said. This year's theme for World No-Tobacco Day is 'Stop Tobacco Industry Interference'.
"We
know what we are up against, but governments do not always know how
best to protect public health policies against tobacco industry
interference," Latif, in a press statement on Wednesday, said.
The global tobacco industry is opposing and attacking governments and health leaders over the fundamental right of governments. Its multiple and devious tactics include legal and economic threats, funding front groups to oppose health policies, making political donations and funding campaigns to discredit health policies, the statement added.
Pankaj Chaturvedi, associate professor at the department of head and neck oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital insists on sensitizing governments and politicians. He has sought bidi taxes. "Bidi is made by the poor and smoked by the poor. While bidi industry families thrive, bidi rollers live in abject poverty. Many bidi consumers, who are afflicted by cancer, die without care. The state government is losing hundreds of crores of rupees from avoiding taxes on bidi," he said.
Satej Patil, minister of state for home and food and drug administration, agrees that increasing taxes on tobacco products can discourage use. "We are trying our best to impose heavy taxes on bidi and other tobacco products. We are creating awareness in the Congress," he said.
"The central and state governments will not be able to make or implement stringent laws against tobacco. Some influential leaders are involved in the tobacco business and exert huge pressure in policy making," BJP's Maharashtra spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said.
"It is not right to say that NCP leaders who run tobacco units are involved in illegal business. Neither is it correct to say that because some NCP leaders are in the tobacco business they influence anti-tobacco policy," NCP spokesperson Ankush Kakade said.
The global tobacco industry is opposing and attacking governments and health leaders over the fundamental right of governments. Its multiple and devious tactics include legal and economic threats, funding front groups to oppose health policies, making political donations and funding campaigns to discredit health policies, the statement added.
Pankaj Chaturvedi, associate professor at the department of head and neck oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital insists on sensitizing governments and politicians. He has sought bidi taxes. "Bidi is made by the poor and smoked by the poor. While bidi industry families thrive, bidi rollers live in abject poverty. Many bidi consumers, who are afflicted by cancer, die without care. The state government is losing hundreds of crores of rupees from avoiding taxes on bidi," he said.
Satej Patil, minister of state for home and food and drug administration, agrees that increasing taxes on tobacco products can discourage use. "We are trying our best to impose heavy taxes on bidi and other tobacco products. We are creating awareness in the Congress," he said.
"The central and state governments will not be able to make or implement stringent laws against tobacco. Some influential leaders are involved in the tobacco business and exert huge pressure in policy making," BJP's Maharashtra spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said.
"It is not right to say that NCP leaders who run tobacco units are involved in illegal business. Neither is it correct to say that because some NCP leaders are in the tobacco business they influence anti-tobacco policy," NCP spokesperson Ankush Kakade said.
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