Demand for ban on tobacco products

A Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Bombay had demanded a ban on the manufacture, sale and consumption of gutka and other products containing tobacco.

Ram Naik, the Lok Sabha MP from North Bombay, has submitted a letter of protest to Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma, claiming the habit has reached endemic proportions.

A report submitted by the World Health Organisation recently has concluded that more than 90 per cent of cancer cases are due to the consumption of tobacco and gutka, Naik's petition claims, adding that there is cause for concern since the intake of pan masala and tobacco have increased among students of schools and universities.

The petition submitted to Speaker Sangma is also signed by Bombay Municipal Corporation Health Committee president Dr Ram Barot, Dr Katie Dinshaw, director, Tata Memorial Hospital, Dr Shyam Agrawal, head of Haffkine's medicine manufacturing unit, and 348 other prominent doctors from Bombay.

Compiled by Prasanna D Zorey from the Marathi press