Health Ministry announces 'Tambakoo Virodh Puraskar'

The Hindu

News Update Service

Wednesday, April 11 2007

Health Ministry announces 'Tambakoo Virodh Puraskar'

E.x.c.e.r.p.t. [From this World No Tobacco Day, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is going to give a awarde to the eligible individuals, institutions, civil society and state governments. We hope that this will encourage to people in their tobacco control campaign. Please read more below.] thanks

New Delhi, April. 11 (PTI): Stepping up the tobacoo control initiatives, the Health Ministry has announced 'Tambakoo Virodh Puraskar' in recognition of outstanding achievement in the field of tobacco control.

A brainchild of the Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, the awards would be announced on the occasion 'World No Tobacco Day' on May 31.

"The awards have been included as an annual feature by the ministry. It is an initiative to encourage people to come forward for tobacco control activities," a health ministry official told PTI.

The award carries a citation and a trophy along with a monetary award of Rs 1 lakh each in four categories -- eligible individuals, institutions, civil society and state governments.
The ministry has formed an award selection committee that will review the nominations.

"The nominees must have a demonstrated record of consistent excellence in tobacco control and should have served as exemplars and role models to others in tobacco control programme. They should have employed innovative, creative approaches to tobacco control and should not have any affiliation with the tobacco industry," the official said. The last date for receipt of nominees is April 20.

In India, tobacco use is estimated to cause 8,00,000 deaths annually and WHO predicts that tobacco deaths in India may exceed 1.5 million annually by 2020.
According to the WHO estimates, 194 million men and 45 million women use tobacco in smoked or smokeless forms in India. The estimate say, tobacco consumption is responsible for half of all the cancers in men and a quarter of all cancers in women.

online available at- http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200704111757.htm

Smokescreen at work: No ifs about this butt !

News- Times of India

April 10 2007

Lucknow.

Smokescreen at work: No ifs about this butt !

This ones for the smoking Joes. Did anybody tell them they need to cap those chimneys before their reputations ( and the appraisals at the workplace) go up in smoke? According to a study by the free university of Amsterdam.

Smokers are more likely to fall ill take extra days off work. In yet another article by San Diego State University researcher Tarry Conway State. ‘Cigarette smoke might simply be a marker for other underlying factors such as non conformity and high risk-taking that contribute to proper performance’. Improbable as it sounds, the facts remains.

That the butt ain’t mightier than butter- which is why we work in the first place remember? Any wonder then doctors and corporate alike think that this couraging smoking at the work place is a good idea? A fact that is corroborated by Dr. Anita Singh, learning manager of a well-known IT firm as she talks about how smoking is actively discouraged in her company. “No employ is allowed to smoke with in the office which in itself acts as a deterrent, because getting up to go out for a fag every now and then is not a very comfortable idea. Not only that, we also organize anti smoking awareness sessions from time to time.” Singh informs other IT company too have been know to take such healthy initiatives to keep the smoke at bay.

It’s a strategy worth considering opines Professor Ramakant former Chief Medical Superintendent, KGMU and is well- known for his anti tobacco lobbying. “ There are several studies to corroborate these facts. Smoking is known to cause excitability, irritability, errors in judgments and problems in decision-making which naturally hamper work,” Ramakant explains. An impediment which has led him to negotiate with the Ministers of Health and Family Welfare, Anbumani Ramados, to empower heads of department in various organizations, including restaurant, to reserve the right to allow their employees and visitors smoke and though medicos like Dr. ID Sharm, head, department of Surgical Oncology, KGMU think “ that one can not force a law onto any corporate house” nevertheless agree that “ smoking as such during is bad.” But sharma doesn’t fail to point out that, not allowing a regular smoke to take his days nicotine intake may lead to poorer performance at work for they are too addicted cigarettes to be able to function without them.”

And psychologist Dr. Sanjay Chugh is wont to believe that “there is no way to suggest that every individual who smokes would perform incompetently at work” clinical psychologist Dr Anjali
Chabbaria hardly conforms to his views. “ Compared to non smokers tend to be less disciplined, have psychological issues and are totally dependent on their addiction.

Discouraging smoking at the work- place therefore is a really good idea,” Chabbria opines. Time to win the ciggies? It could work wonders!

India to have food regulatory body

Online at: http://www.rxpgnews.com/indianhealthcare/India-to-have-food-regulatory-body_23190.shtml

RxPG News (Source: IANS)

10 April 2007


India to have food regulatory body

'We have tried everything but it has been of no use. So now we have decided to put scary photos of cancer patients on them to discourage consumers,' he said on the sidelines of the summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry - and the Food and Agriculture Organisation - of the UN.

By IANS, [RxPG] New Delhi, April 10 - India will soon have a food regulatory body to address issues such as food quality and safety, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said here Tuesday.

'We have been concerned with integration of our food laws, many of them item-specific and dealt with by different agencies, and hence we have recently enacted the Food Safety and Standards Act as an integrated food law that will be administered by a single autonomous and scientific regulatory body,' Ramadoss said while inaugurating an international food summit.

'The body will be set up in four to five months and it will be headed by a food commissioner,' he added.

He said all tobacco products would from June 1 bear photographs of patients suffering from cancer caused by tobacco consumption as further warning. 'We have tried everything but it has been of no use. So now we have decided to put scary photos of cancer patients on them to discourage consumers,' he said on the sidelines of the summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry - and the Food and Agriculture Organisation - of the UN.

The two-day summit, attended by participants from the US, Europe, Ireland, Brazil, Malaysia, New Zealand and Thailand, aims to create a roadmap for India on food standards and its implementation.