For a tobacco-free country

On the occasion of ‘World anti-Tobacco Day-2017’ on May 31, the Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment (SCOPE) conducted discussions with a theme ‘Let’s Stop This Cancer Killing’ on Wednesday.

The discussion spoke about the atrocities a single drug has caused to the public and the disregard of various tobacco companies towards these atrocities. Discussions were lead by Doctor and Managing trustee of SCOPE B Chandrakanth Rao.

Retired Judge of the high court Justice Chandra Kumar, Senior Advocate of High court Mahamood Ali, Chairman of CAPCO and CATCO Vemula Gouri Shankar Rao and Former President of Lok Sattha, Narsimha Rao were among the people involved in the discussions.

35 per cent of all adults in India use some form of tobacco leading to one million tobacco related deaths each year. Talking in this regard, Chandrakanth Rao explained that tobacco had found its way to the public as a part of regular meal.

In order to eliminate it, people must aware themselves with its ill effects and find alternatives. Public faces active and passive influence of tobacco in the form of Head ache, Gum infection, Heart diseases, chronic lung diseases, etc.

He added by saying that the government must provide alternatives for the people involved in the tobacco business by providing free seeds for other crops, subsidies to cigarette shops for setting up another business and replacing tobacco products with healthier options in order to stop tobacco from consuming lives.

Talking about the theme, Chandra Kumar shared his views on the disregard of the tobacco companies towards the health of the public. He said that the tobacco companies lack social responsibility and are blinded by the profits in the revenue system. He further talked about the efforts put by the SCOPE in establishing various amendments and regulations on the tobacco company.

Adding to this, he informed the people that passive smoking can also cause life threatening diseases and this is a violation of the constitution. This provides a right to the public to stop a smoker from smoking around them.

He also informed that the government profits a total of 240 Crores every year from the taxes on these cigarettes whereas 600 Crores is the total amount spent on Health due to cancer. He further appreciated Hemanth Upadhayay, VOICE organisation, Delhi and B Chandrakanth Rao for their will to work towards a tobacco free country.

“We can only develop by appreciating and inspiring people to make a difference towards a healthy society” he said. Speaking on the occasion, Mahamood Ali referred to tobacco as a disease to the country.

He further explained how explaining the ill effects of tobacco can bring a difference in a person and appreciated the initiation for pictorial representation of various tobacco products which have proven to bring a difference in consumption of tobacco. Vemula Gouri Shankar spoke about the influence of cinema on consumption of tobacco and how it has affected youngsters on a large scale.