Murky business

Sir, - The plight of tobacco farmers in Andhra Pradesh ``who could not sell even 10 per cent of their produce'' has been highlighted in the press. If the State Trading Corporation (STC) does not buy soon, the ``farmers would be forced to resort to distress sale and some of them would be left with no option but commit suicide.'' It was further reported that ``the unauthorised excess of crop raised by the farmers in 1999 was estimated at 40 million kg. Thus the total stocks come to 225 million kg.''

It is surprising that the growers, the Tobacco Board, the State Chief Minister, and the Union Minister for Commerce are pointing to the STC to buy all the tobacco stocks. They are even trying to bring the Prime Minister into the picture. There is also a clamour by growers for ``crop holiday throughout the country.'' The tobacco cultivation and the sale of the produce appear to be a murky business full of vested interests, with farmers left to the mercy of market forces. Poor farmers are caught in a vicious circle. They look to tobacco for their livelihood. And we the educated and the enlightened mislead them knowing fully that the poisonous crop should never have been cultivated. Tobacco has one and only one use - manufacture of cigarettes, beedis, chewing tobacco, gutka, etc. and all these products have the ``addictive'' nicotine that is the primary cause of diseases like cancer which are often fatal. Children and adolescents are being tempted to buy and use tobacco through attractive advertisements, sports sponsorship, and other promotional techniques.

It is time we realised what harm we are doing by encouraging tobacco cultivation. We should consider the present state of affairs as a blessing in disguise and declare a permanent holiday for the tobacco crop.

Bharat R. Sant,

Hyderabad

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Sir, - The World Anti-Tobacco Day is being observed every year on May 31. It has been universally admitted that chewing and smoking tobacco cause cancer, respiratory and other diseases. The Indian Dental Association had displayed posters in several places with the message, ``Tobacco is an enemy of tooth but friend of cancer''. It has warned against getting addicted to chewing pan, tobacco and panmasala. The Central and State Governments should pass laws banning the production of tobacco related goods and smoking in public places.

P. S. Subrahmanian,

Vadodara (Gujarat)

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