Bengaluru: Union minister for science and technology Harsh Vardhan on Sunday asserted that tobacco produces nothing less than death as he took exception about members of a Parliamentary panel commenting on the issue that has raised questions about conflict of interest.
“As an ENT surgeon, as a former health minister, as a doctor, I can only say that tobacco produces death and nothing less than that,” he said in response to a question by reporters on the issue of increasing the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco in the backdrop of a controversy generated by BJP members of a parliamentary panel suggesting “nil” effects of smoking.
Vardhan who was the health minister when the notification was issued by the ministry that sought to make 85 per cent of space on cigarette packs and other tobacco products to be mandatorily covered with graphic and text warnings of health hazard.
Asked whether the members with conflict of interest should stay in the panel, on the sidelines of an event organised by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) here, Vardhan said, “I think this is quite natural, why should anybody who has a conflict on interest should be commenting on a subject which raises questions about the conflict of interest.”
The government had on Saturday said that it will take a “measured and responsible” decision on the issue, with the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley making it clear that the decision of the government in the matter will not be based on the opinions of individuals.
