After Pierce Brosnan appeared in a pan masala advertisement recently, surgeon and anti-tobacco activist Pankaj Chaturvedi has written an open letter to the actor expressing ‘shock’ over his decision to promote flavoured areca nut product in India.
The physician, an associate professor and a head-neck cancer surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, wrote: “I work as cancer surgeon in India’s premier cancer centre and I have 10 questions for you. Pan masala has been proven to be a harmful substance by several reputed Indian laboratories and research Institutions. Based on that, the food safety regulation in India mandates that every pan masala packet is sold with a warning — chewing pan masala is injurious to health. Why did you endorse a harmful product?’’
The letter added that flavoured areca nut or supari or betel nut is a carcinogen. Areca nut is a confirmed cancer-causing substance as per the International Agency for Research on Cancer, WHO, France. In an ongoing matter in the Supreme Court, the Union Health Ministry has submitted a voluminous report on the health hazards of areca nut.
Also as per Indian law, every pan masala ad must have statutory warning that it is a harmful substance. These warnings were made inconspicuous and unreadable in the advertisement. “Did you realise how people are being cheated?”
He further stated that in India, pan masala is an established surrogate of smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco). Nearly 200 million Indians chew tobacco, making India the mouth cancer capital of the world. Asking the actor why he choose to promote oral cancer, Dr. Chaturvedi invited him to join the Clean India Campaign.
“The government recognizes the tobacco industry’s sinister design to target vulnerable children as their new consumers. As per the amended Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, passed by Parliament, ‘It is an offence against a child, if a person gives or causes to be given, to any child any tobacco products’. This is punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and also liable to a fine which may extend up to Rs.1 lakh,” he added.
