PANJIM: The national president of the NGO National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) Dr Shekhar Salkar has written to Amitabh Bachchan and has asked the actor to withdraw from promoting paan masala through surrogate advertisements.
In his letter to the famous celebrity, Dr Salkar asked him to instead, come forward and support the cause of anti-tobacco, anti-paan masala movement, which Dr Salkar added will curb the initiation towards such addictions in children and save precious lives of youth and fellow Indians.
“I take this privilege to attract your kind attention towards the menacing issue of tobacco and paan masala consumption and how it is decaying the health of our citizens, especially youth,” the letter reads.
NOTE-India further pointed out research has shown that increase of tobacco and paan masala usage aggravates the risk of cancer, heart and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.
“With implementation of strict laws for deterrence and national tobacco control programs by the Government of India along with diligent work of NGOs, the trend of tobacco and paan masala usage is on decline however, dubious means of surrogate advertising, flamboyant on-screen depictions and ostentatious proxy hoardings are conflicting the cause,” said Salkar.
“Promotion of substances posing health hazard is not just ethically immoral and contradictory to the various measures taken by government to prohibit tobacco and paan masala consumption but also has an adverse impact on society,” he added.
