Ban Goes Up in Smoke......

Santanu Saraswati
Chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has a very good reason to stay inactive every time when there is a much hullabaloo on strictly imposing a ban on smoking, at least in public places like the Writers’ Buildings. Buddhadeb just smiles and tells the reporters, “You can write on this issue, but I will never quit smoking”.

Maharashtra successfully did this few years ago on the sale of gutka or non-smoking tobacco products after the then chief minister of that state, a gutka-lover, Sharad Pawar, had been detected with oral cancer. But if the chief minister of Bengal speaks like this on the imposing the ban on use of tobacco products, one could just easily guess—what will be the ever-rising smoking population of this city’s comment of this issue. And the reality is just after a year this state administration, including Kolkata Police, have no records of people being fined for smoking in public. Be it for smoking inside the corridors of power, at the Writers’ Buildings, government-run hospitals, and other state government offices including the New Secretariat, Manjusha Bhawan, Purta Bhawan, Unnyan Bhawan, and Vidyut Bhawan or at the office of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation at S N Banerjee Road and police headquarters at Bhawani Bhawan and Lal Bazar.

“I really don’t think there is any need for observing the World No Tobacco Day every year on May 31, when the heads of our administration flout the ban. It’s really surprising that even the state health minister is a cigarette-addict! New Delhi administration had successfully implemented the ban, so did the national censor board on films with scenes of actors and actresses smoking, but witnessing flouting by VVIPs, one can really doubt our intentions,” said Somnath Sorcer, consultant medical oncologist, Cancer Care & Welfare Home, Thakurpukur.

Just like Sorcer, even eminent film director, Buddhadeb Dasgupta think let the policy-makers of Bengal know what people think on a blanket ban on tobacco. There is an urgent need to advocate for a total ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products here. “I should appeal the younger generations to get involved in a campaign to educate peers on how the tobacco industry uses advertising, promotion and sponsorship to persuade people to smoke or use other forms of tobacco. Let the industry know its slick, expensive promotional efforts, won’t dupe us,” the Golden Athena Award recipient told Hindustan Times.

Even though the ban on advertisements or hoardings of alcohol products, and cigarettes remain effective in Kolkata, advertisings of other tobacco products in television channels and newspapers are still rampant. Even media managers treat advertisings of non-smoking tobacco products are treated as potential revenue generators. Medical oncologists like Sorcer need to advocate to policy-makers for a complete ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship of any form of tobacco products in Bengal—be it on a hoarding at the back of a public vehicle or in media. “The state health minister should help organise youth groups so they can be part of the campaign and engage in the conception, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of tobacco control policies and programmes to ban advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products,” Sorcer added.

Even physicians play a vital role in casting tobacco use an individual patient level as well as in the community level. Studies have found that even brief counselling three minutes or less can increase smoking cessation by 30 per cent and longer periods of counselling can increase these rates further. Majority of smokers visit a physician every year and so there is an opportunity to provide cessation advice to patients who smoke, maintained Arundhati Chakraborty, senior consultant oncologist and palliative care specialist.

But who will bell the cat? Is it the state administration or the public in general? Actor Arjun Chakraborty thinks it should always be the public that should speak the last. If Kolkata Police can became little successful in making the Kolkatans aware about traffic rules involving the school children, then why not in imposing ban on use of tobacco products in public? “After all, if we can’t think of ourselves let think for our next generation at least. I am sure there is only benefit, and no loss if we could really do this,” Arjun said.

Surprisingly, last year, the director general of health services, government of India, recommended a ban on gutka, which was turned down by then Union finance minister, P Chidambaram as well as by the Union industry ministry. The recommendations sparked off a wide debate, with gutka manufacturers claiming that this has been influenced by cigarette manufacturing companies, due to falling of sales of cigarettes and finally the gutka companies showed how many people will lose their jobs if the government of India really does so.

Just alike, tobacco advertising has been banned in state-controlled electronic media, but continues without restriction in newspapers, magazines, on posters, billboards and satellite television channels. And this year, too, people including the lawmakers held rallies and made best of their oratories on World No Tobacco Day!
santanu_saraswati@hotmail.com