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BURNING BRAIN NEWSLETTER - June 2005 BURNING BRAIN
Mother of all victories Dear Members, On May 31, 2005, it was one of the biggest victories for all anti-tobacco and cancer prevention activists around the world; not only India. The commitment by the Health Ministry in the forms of a new set of rules drafter under “Cigarette and other tobacco products Act (COTPA)” prohibiting any form of publicity of tobacco products and even restricting the movie actors from consuming tobacco products on the screen comes as a big victory in our combined fight against the tobacco menace. The release from the ministry also commits to put a stop on all forms of surrogate tobacco advertisements. It is a clear vindication of the Burning Brain Society's stand on the issue. We have been demanding the same since long. The recent one (which we believe proved to be the last shot) was on April 26, 2005. The communication was addressed to the Health Minister, the I & B Minister, The CBFC (Censor Board) chairperson and the Registrar of the Trade Marks. You all must be having these letters in your mail box as a part of the April 2005 communication and the May 2005 newsletter. Even before the Health Ministry came out with the proposed rules which are now to be enforced from August 1, 2005, Burning Brain Society was able to extract commitment from the Central Board of Film Certification (Censor Board) vide its letter dated 19-5-05; No. M/23/2001-2005 committing to delete all scenes which glorified smoking and/or showed any tobacco brand. Unmindful of the bigger things coming; it in itself was a big achievement for BBS. Some of you and many of our members have expressed their sadness for the Burning Brain Society not getting the due share of recognition for this remarkable achievement. I appreciate the sentiment and also understand your involvement with the issue and BBS. But let me remind all our friends about our objectives; it is not getting any recognition but getting things done. Since we were able to sensitize the responsible and empowered people and were instrumental in the whole exercise, is in itself a big achievement. It will definitely produced the desired results. If we did not have responsible and sensitive people like Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss as our health minister or Ms. Bhavani Tyagrajan as the Joint Sec. Health, in charge of the tobacco affairs, Ms. Vineet Munish Gill, the WHO officer working on TFI in India and many others like them; nothing much could have been achieved. No matter what we would have done. Then; all of us wanted to change the situation, we were working for the much required change vis-a-vis the (hitherto) uncontrolled tobacco menace. It is now manifesting. Is that not satisfying? What is the most important thing for us, we question ourselves; "Is the time we are investing worth it and is it producing the desired results ?" YES. And this answer is the most important thing to us. We have made the difference and will continue to do so. Let's
get to work again. Yours
Recent actions which made the difference; What made the recent difference? We believe our communications and persistent efforts contributed in making the real difference. They were one of the final nails in the tobacco coffin. Read the communications. The details about other BBS efforts are available at www.burningbrain.org. Relevant extracts from the Letter sent to Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, the Minister of Health We propose that any movie which shows an actor smoking or using a tobacco product (if it must be and in any case only till the time we incorporate a provision in the existing law to stop it) must be given “A” certificate and any such movie should at no time be shown on any of the satellite channels. Please consider this. Relevant extracts from the Letter sent to Mr. S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Information & Broadcasting Another matter which requires your immediate attention is the use of tobacco products in “Movies.” These attempts to highlight and promote tobacco through movies also need to be checked. The movies are the vehicle having the potential to change the behavior of today’s youth. We propose that any movie which shows an actor smoking or using a tobacco product should not be shown on any of the satellite channels including DoorDarshan. We request you to check these aberrations in Door Darshan. The National media should be a model for the others but if DoorDarshan itself indulge in such unfair practices, then controlling others is going to be a real uphill task. We have seen Door Darshan blotting/censoring certain words which the committee finds offensive or deleterious to the minds of the youngsters or for family viewing. We appreciate the high standards Door Darshan is trying to maintain but remember that no one will die by hearing a few uncensored words but many youngsters and people will definitely die (Estimated 200 lakhs in 2020) if they take to tobacco as a result of indirect/direct promotion and highlighting of tobacco products and brand/trade name by Door Darshan. The onus of these deaths would be on you. Are you willing to take the responsibility of these deaths? Letter sent to Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks Relevant extracts from the Letter sent to Ms. Sharmila Tagore, Chief of the Censor Board There is no such emotion which requires the aid of a cigarette stick or any other tobacco product for its expression. Our study of the Natya Shastra also shows that the use of such articles has never been approved by our Shastra’s too. And above all, in the present scenario the intention of the producer/director/actor in league with the tobacco companies is absolutely dishonest; that is to promote the tobacco brand/trade name. We request you not to allow any movie to be passed for public display which highlights any tobacco product’s brand/trade name or shows the actors consuming tobacco products and/or any other form of intoxicants. Any such movie if under any circumstances is passed then it must be given an “A” certificate and with clear instructions that the movie should at no time be shown on any of the satellite channels. Reply by CBFC (Censor Board) committing to delete all tobacco related scenes.
Workshop for Health Workers and Change Managers Conclude:
How to bring in a social change in relation to a social menace which kills about 10 million people every year (in India itself) was the focus of the one day workshop conducted by Burning Brain Society (BBS). The workshop was conducted for the health workers, community leaders, change agents which included religious leaders, political and social workers, teachers, enforcement agencies and other such like people who have a role in bringing a change. Discussing about the role of a change manager, Mr. Hemant Goswami, the chairperson of BBS said that change does not happen overnight; it is a long process and may take decades to reflect, so the change manager should be willing to work without rewards, recognition or immediate results or gains and even face the oppositions for long periods of times. Mr. Goswami added that every social problem starts as a spike and utter neglect, disregard and apathy makes the problem big and of unimaginably size that it becomes very difficult to even handle it. Tobacco problem has reached that stage and it is very important to tackle it in an urgent manner but with a futuristic approach. Dr. Rajesh Kashyap of IGMC informed that each
cigarette reduces the life span of a person by about 15-20 minutes and a passive
smoker by 5 minutes. Tobacco is directly responsible for causing the death of
half of its lifelong users by reducing the quality of life and the lifespan by
around 14 years was another fact revealed by Dr. Rajesh. Among the other people who presented relevant details and papers on the subject were; Dr. J. S. Thakur from Community Medicine Department, P.G.I., Dr. Tina Dadwal, Dr. Rajeev Kashyap from Department of Medicine, Haryana and Ms. Anita from the Brahmkumari Ashram. In the whole workshop one man who really stole
the show was the Burning Brain Society volunteer Mr. Attar Singh who had
composed three songs on tobacco and presented it during the workshop. The songs
were appreciated by everyone and proved to be an effective tool in presenting
the facts in an interesting manner. The BBS activity was supported by World Health Organisation and Ministry of Health & Family welfare.
NEW ACTION: Demand for licensing all tobacco vendors: WNTD 2005 Marking the World No Tobacco Day, the Burning Brain Society displayed “No Smoking,” “Quit Tobacco” and “Rights of Non-Smokers’ messages at Sector 17 Plaza. One of the displayed messages requested all the non-smokers to become active non-smokers and also provided a five point guidelines to promote non-smoking. The BBS guidelines read; 1. Don't allow anyone to smoke in your office, work place or home. No matter who he/she is. 2. Object to anyone smoking at any public places, like bus, train, hotel, hospital, bus stand, railway station, public offices, etc. Be vocal in your objection and point out the harms to you and the other persons health. Point out that it’s illegal too. 3. Educate young people about the effect and consequences of tobacco in a friendly, receptive and informal manner. Ensure that the schools/educational institutions provides a tobacco - free environment. 4. Since 70% of the people who consume tobacco want to quit but continue to smoke because no one close to them persistently ask them to quit tobacco. So, ask your friends, relatives and acquaintances who use tobacco, to give up. Impart proper information and dangers of tobacco. Help them quit smoking and/or other forms of tobacco. 5. When someone offers a
cigarette, don't just refuse it. Take one, break it into pieces and throw it
into a dustbin. This will assert your status as an active non-smoker and a
misocapnic (a person who hates smoke). If you can point out the harms of smoking
while doing so, you will definitely make your point. (Watch this: )This is going to be another victory for the anti tobacco and cancer prevention activists: This licensing proposal mooted by BBS will eventually be adopted: A forecast) “Presently the Cigarette
and Other tobacco Products Act [COTPA] and the rules made under it requires that
all tobacco shops maintain a distance of at-least 100 yards from all educational
institutions but this is also not being followed by anyone and every government
officials is passing on the responsibility to others. In Chandigarh the state of
affairs is so bad that a one paragraph notification which was to be promulgated
under Sections, 24 of COTPA has not come out a yet. The DPI office thinks that
this is the responsibility of the Chandigarh Police, the police want the
Directorate of Health to Act, the Directorate of Health wants the Legal
Remembrance to do the needful, and the LR office is not clear on the act and now
is seeking clarifications from the Ministry. So while the relevant sections of
COTPA have been notified all over the country, Chandigarh Administration is
still dilly-dallying on the issue,” revealed Mr. Hemant Goswami.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: Support Burning Brain Friends, It is becoming increasingly difficult to continue our activities with the meager (read; No) resources we have. The issues we are working on make it very challenging to generate any resources from the corporate world or any other agencies. Our loud voice also becomes an obstacle in generating funds from the Government agencies, which continue to support long obsolete themes in a non-practical manner. The officials also do not like people who speak their mind and point out the wrong doings. Such people are considered as the spoil sports and usurpers of the system. Even after that (our experience has proved it) one has to either bribe the Government officials or please their ego (to fantastic limits) to even work on a project. As if they are doing a great favour by granting one. Since we are not interested to loose our voice so we will take neither of the two paths and thereby do not hope to generate any resources from this quarter too. Some may say unpractical and foolish. Never mind, we prefer this path. We will continue to think with our own mind and have an unfettered voice. This leaves us to fend for ourselves. We are trying to open new channels but till that time those of you who can support us will do a great job by supporting us. You can contribute whatever you feel comfortable with. You can send your contributions to;
Burning Brain Society or directly to our bank account (with an intimation at the above mentioned address), the details are; Bank Account: Bank Account Number: If you are keen to know how the funds are being utilized, we shall be more than happy to share our account details with you. Regards
An Articles: Article on "Why & How to Quit Tobacco" from "Mystic India" June 2005 issue (PDF File - 480 Kb)
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