A national anti-tobacco organisation has encouraged Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan to withdraw from the pan masala marketing campaign, claiming that the action will assist young people from being addicted to smoke.
Shekhar Salkar, President of the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE), wrote to Bachchan, saying that medical research has shown that tobacco and pan masala addiction degrades the health of citizens, particularly the youth, and since he (Bachchan) is the government’s brand ambassador for the high-profile pulse polio campaign, he should withdraw from the pan masala ads as soon as possible.
‘The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) accepts the scientific evidence that chewing betel quids (pan) is carcinogenic for humans,’ the letter to Bachchan said, adding, ‘As an oncologist and member of an NGO working in the field of tobacco cessation, I am aggrieved and provoked to wage war against the dubious measures, such embellishment done by various influential and famous Bollywood actors, leading to increased tobacco use among students.’
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NOTE has targeted celebrities on many instances over the previous decade for smoking in public. Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan was fined in 2010 for smoking in a public place on the International Film Festival of India premises in Panaji after NOTE intervened.
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