Rajasthan widows urge PM to ban tobacco goods

Jaipur: To build pressure for having 85% pictorial warning on tobacco products and to ban tobacco products, a group of widows of tobacco victims from Rajasthan shot a missive to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
Renu, 45, a resident of Jaipur, is among the many women who had lost her husband in 2008 to tobacco addiction, has pleaded to ban tobacco with immediate effect."My husband died from mouth cancer due to his habit of eating tobacco. Since he died my family including my two children can barely manage to earn enough for two meals a day," said Renu. At least, pictorial warnings on tobacco products will ensure that children are scared of it.
The letter reads, "It is a matter of sheer disappointment that the parliamentary committee has disregarded our demands on a pretext that it will take away the livelihood of many engaged in this business. We would like to ask how many more widows this government would like see?"
Dr Pawan Singhal, associate professor, department of ENT, SMS Medical College, says that everyday he see people dying from tobacco-eating habits.
"I have given recommendations to the government several times but in vain. The tobacco-eating habit is eating away precious human resource leaving their dependents in utter misery and poverty," said Singhal.
He has presented studies to the health department how cancer related to tobacco is rising in the state.
"Mostly, youngsters are falling into the trap of tobacco. It's an alarming sign," said Singhal.
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