Top health official dismisses BJP MPs’ claims on smoking
9 April 2015 5:28 AM IST
Director General of Health Services Jagdish Prasad on Tuesday rejected the suggestions made by some parliamentarians including BJP MPs that there was no scientific evidence linking smoking to cancer, saying research has indeed been done.
“Research has been done and it’s a known fact that tobacco causes cancer. There is no doubt about it. Take for example the case of Sunita (Tomar),” Prasad told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
Sunita, the face of India’s fight against tobacco, recently succumbed to relapse of throat cancer.
Prasad added that contrary to the assertions of the MPs, the harmful effects from tobacco is on the rise in the country also because of the fact that “ladies, who did not used to smoke earlier, have now taken up smoking”.
“There were few lung cancer cases in the past but it has increased. Cigarettes produce free radicals which after a stage harm our body,” he said.
“Research has been done and it’s a known fact that tobacco causes cancer. There is no doubt about it. Take for example the case of Sunita (Tomar),” Prasad told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
Sunita, the face of India’s fight against tobacco, recently succumbed to relapse of throat cancer.
Prasad added that contrary to the assertions of the MPs, the harmful effects from tobacco is on the rise in the country also because of the fact that “ladies, who did not used to smoke earlier, have now taken up smoking”.
“There were few lung cancer cases in the past but it has increased. Cigarettes produce free radicals which after a stage harm our body,” he said.
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