Members of Parliament making statements de-linking tobacco consumption and cancer were quite unfortunate and were unfit to be people's representatives, said former Union Minister of Health and Pattali Makkal Katchi's chief ministerial candidate Anbumani Ramadoss in Coimbatore on Saturday.
There were several studies and research that were approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research, reputable medical colleges and other research institutions that clearly established that regular consumption of tobacco was responsible for not only cancer but also other diseases. And World Health Organisation-backed studies had also said the same.
Therefore for making such preposterous statements, the MPs should be disqualified, he told presspersons here.
In the past 11 months, the Bharatiya Janata Party government had done well but it could have done more. It could also have avoided controversial subjects such as imposition of Hindi, Hindutva, Bhagavad Gita, etc. He urged the government to find a permanent solution to the fishermen issue, retrieve the Katchatheevu islet, and not rush through the Land Acquisition Bill. The PMK had reservations with certain provisions of the Bill and it would continue to voice its reservations.
Criticising the AIADMK and DMK for their misrule, he said Tamil Nadu topped the country in liquor sales, accidents, crime against women, all thanks to the active promotion of liquor by the State government. Tamil Nadu was the only State where the government fixed target for liquor sales. If the PMK were to win the 2016 Assembly elections, it would usher in prohibition, do away with freebies and concentrate on development of the State.
