Newspaper advertisements of the film “Jannat 2″ showing actor Emraan Hashmi smoking a cigarette violated anti-tobacco laws, an NGO said pointing to the violation. In a letter to the health ministry and the information and broadcasting ministry, HRIDAY (Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth) pointed to “blatant violations of the rules” in the print advertisements. ”These ads, showing Hashmi smoking, have been published in supplements of leading national dailies. This amounts to a violation of the Rule 9(2) of the said (government) notification,” said the letter. It cited the notification saying that “any promotional material and posters of the films and television programmes shall not depict any tobacco products or their usage in films”.
The HRIDAY letter also asked the ministry of information and broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification, as the implementing agencies of the rules, to take appropriate action against the filmmakers and distributors in light of the violations. ”It is a violation of Section 5 of Control of Tobacco Products Act, which prohibits all forms of advertisement (direct, indirect/surrogate), promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products,” the letter said. The letter was sent to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and senior officials of the health ministry. HRIDAY, in a report, had said that Indian adolescents exposed to tobacco in films were twice as likely to become tobacco users.
Recently, SRK too was pulled up for smoking in public. Smoking is the leading cause of cancer and other chronic diseases. 1 out of 3 cancer-related deaths are caused due to tobacco use. Tobacco use is estimated to have caused nearly 120,000 deaths across India in 2010, according to research carried out by the Toronto-based Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR) in partnership with Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital. Nearly 600,000 Indians die of cancer every year – over seven in 10 deaths (71 percent) takes place in the 30-69 age group, the most productive period of a person’s life, says the report published in the latest issue of the Lancet medical journal. The study points out that Kerala had among the highest age standardised cancer mortality rates per 100,000 for men in the 30-69 age group (158.5 for all cancers and 53.9 for tobacco-related cancers).
Picture courtesy: Bollywoodlife.com
Source: IANS
