Amid the controversy over BJP members of a parliamentary panel saying there is little evidence to link cigarettes to cancer, Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan said here on Sunday that “tobacco causes death, nothing less.”
“As a doctor and former Union Health Minister, I have no doubt in my mind about the statement that tobacco causes death,” Mr. Vardhan told presspersons on the sidelines of a function at the National Aerospace Laboratories here.
Asked about the Opposition parties’ allegations that the tobacco lobby was responsible for his ouster from the Health Ministry, Mr. Vardhan said: “I have already told you my opinion on tobacco.”
Word of cautionMr. Vardhan, who was earlier Health Minister in the Modi Ministry, said members of the parliamentary panel should refrain from making comments.
Dilip Gandhi, BJP MP and Chairman of a parliamentary Committee of subordinate legislation examining the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, had said there were “no India-specific studies” to link cancer to tobacco use.
Another BJP MP and member of the panel, Shyama Charan Gupta, has asked the government to hold its proposal to increase the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco products from the present 40 per cent to 85 per cent of the packet.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was here on Saturday, said the Centre would take a “measured and responsible” decision on the issue.
