New Delhi: All movies and TV programmes will be screened to ensure that they don’t contain smoking scenes, said Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on World No-Tobacco Day, Wednesday.
The Health Ministry and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry have agreed to ban smoking scenes in movies, said Ramadoss after addressing a round table meet.
The ministries will notify the Supreme Court, where the matter is pending, that they have reached a consensus on banning smoking and use of other tobacco products in movies and TV.
A ban will reduce the use of tobacco products, which kills about one million people annually in the country.
A committee would screen every movie and TV programme to filter out smoking scenes. If the committee finds that a smoking scene is necessary from the ''artistic point of view,'' then the film would carry an advisory.
The actor shown smoking would need to state that smoking its injurious for health. Old movies containing smoking too would have to carry the advisory.
The Government would in August make it mandatory that 50 per cent of the space on cigarette packs and tobacco products has pictorial warning depicting how smoking causes cancers and is harmful for pregnant women.
An authority would be set up for implementing anti-tobacco legislation and reduce subsidy on tobacco products. A National Tobacco Control Programme will be developed to ensure effective implementation of tobacco control initiatives.
The Indian Council of Medical Research’s data for 1999 shows that there were 1.63 lakh tobacco-related cancer patients in the country, coronary artery diseases due to tobacco use was 44.5 lakh and obstructive lung disease cases due to tobacco use were 39.2 lakhs.
Tobacco costs unnecessary expenditure of Rs 30,833 crore per annum on diagnosis, treatment and loss of wages due to diseases.
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