It’s all smoke and mirrors

It has been found that treatment of tobacco- related diseases and the loss of productivity caused therein cost the country almost Rs 13,500 crore annually, which more than offsets all the benefits accruing in the form of revenue and employment generated by tobacco industry.Three BJP MPs have questioned the well-established findings that smoking does cause cancer. The interesting thing is that they are all members of the parliamentary sub-committee that deals with the tobacco industry. Thanks to their efforts, the April 1 deadline for deciding on the size of warnings on tobacco packs is deferred

Call it holy or sinful, smart or vulgar, a panacea or a deadly health hazard – the humankind has used tobacco for at least seven millennia, a substance that even animals looking for food in arid terrain do not eat.

Smoking, the most common use of tobacco, is something we start early, in adolescence, emulating elders, friends and film stars. Who can forget yesteryears’ smoking hero Ashok Kumar and K N Singh the villain, or the present-day Shahrukh Khan? SRK has enacted the highest number of smoking scenes, a survey says. Only now there is anti-smoking sign with each such scene.Roughly, three billion people use tobacco globally, 80 per cent of them through smoking, as per 2010 statistics. About 49 per cent men and 11 per cent men smoke. The gender gap narrows among poorer strata of societies, Wikipedia tells you.

Indians have been smoking since the Vedic times. But tobacco came much later, introduced by the Portuguese only around 17th century. India is the world’s third-largest tobacco producer after China and Brazil, the Telugu-speaking region being on the top. Unsurprisingly, India has 120 million smokers, almost a tenth of the population as per WHO figures that also warn you that over 9,00,000 people die due to smoking every year. As the industrialised Western societies began to view smoking in negative light, they sought to offload cigarette manufacturing plants to the developing world. Late Indira Gandhi had rejected some big brands’ offers to set up units for free.India’s cigarette industry has thrived and so has the unorganized beedi industry.Much money goes into advertising by the cigarette industry that also set up a body some years ago to lobby against curbs and to argue against taxes that rise practically with every central budget.

Manufacturers often resort to ad campaigns, pointing to “other causes” responsible for cancer and other ailments. Proxy media campaigns point to the beedi being the bigger offender. The beedi makers plead for the livelihood of people employed by their units and those who grow and gather beedi leaves. Comparisons are made between smoking and alcohol consumption. Whether any of these are habit-forming is another point contested.But medical studies have proven beyond doubt that smoking tobacco is among the leading causes of many diseases, especially lung cancer. Paan masala with or without tobacco, with betel nuts and gutka, is special to India. They contribute to oral cancer.

Attractively priced and packaged in small sachets, they have reached remote villages. You see an ad where young scholar impresses a bewildered global gathering with his knowledge, and then nonchalantly takes a spoonful of paan masala. The patriotic touch is unmistakable.The State has had to intervene with a counter campaign that has over the years wavered in emphasis and resolve in the face of heavy lobbying. Neither the governments, nor the media want to forego revenue from these products.

On a petition filed by the late Mumbai MP and Minister, Murli Deora, the Supreme Court observed on November 2, 2001: "Tobacco is universally regarded as one of the major public health hazards and is responsible directly or indirectly for an estimated eight lakh deaths annually in the country. It has also been found that treatment of tobacco related diseases and the loss of productivity caused therein cost the country almost Rs 13,500 crores annually, which more than offsets all the benefits accruing in the form of revenue and employment generated by tobacco industry.”

The apex court’s warnings have made little impact. The court again admitted a public interest litigation last year to direct the government to impose a complete ban on cigarettes and beedis and stringent punishment for smokers. A Bench of then Chief Justice of India R M Lodha, Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman noted that the country is spending approximately Rs 30,000 crore annually in both public and private health sectors to treat tobacco-related illness, which accounts for 25 per cent of public spending on health.

Talking of Deora and Parliament brings us to the current debate on whether or not the size of the warnings on the tobacco packs should be enlarged to enhance their impact on the smokers. And lo and behold, something unusual has happened. Three Members of Parliament belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have taken on the government. They have questioned well-established findings that smoking does cause cancer.One of them cited an 85-plus man who has smoked all his life, but is healthy – obviously an exception, not the rule. They have questioned the need and efficacy of the ad campaign, gory and scary that it is made out to be. Thanks to their effort, the April 1 deadline for deciding on the ad campaign was deferred.

Dilip Gandhi, chairman of the Parliamentary committee on subordinate legislation, claimed that no studies had been conducted in India to prove any link between smoking and cancer. Another MP and member of the committee S C Gupta who, it turns out, owns a beedi business, wrote to the committee saying beedis have very little tobacco and are, therefore, not harmful.These MPs are not the first ones to have business interest in tobacco. But never before has the advocacy become so brazen. The interesting thing is that they have all became members of the parliamentary sub-committee that deals with the tobacco industry. And still more interesting – they have deep financial interest in tobacco industry.

Members having business interest are clearly barred by rules from becoming members of parliamentary committees dealing with that area of activity. But Gandhi has managed to be the chairman of that committee. Now, when they have spoken and exposed themselves, and become controversial, efforts are on to find out how they have managed to be on the committee. These committees are created by Parliament, not the government. But care should have been taken to keep them out.

It is appropriate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a stand that the government will not decide the size of warning on tobacco packs on the basis of individual views. He has asked Health Minister J P Nadda to appoint a high-level committee to study the issue and submit a report at the earliest.The task does not end there: full cognizance should be taken of the Supreme Court directive. The bottom line is: nobody, anywhere, has said tobacco and smoking are good.