Tobacco Industry Awareness Essay

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India: Tobacco Industry Beware!
For 1000’s of years, humans all over the globe have been enjoying and consuming tobacco in its various forms. Tobacco has been used for both recreational and religious purposes since the earliest humans. Tobacco continues to be used to this day by millions of people globally. Regardless of this fact, countries have felt the need to impose either a financial or legal restriction on its use and purchase. India is one such country to follow this growing trend. In Feb 2001, the country banned tobacco companies from advertising and sponsoring any events within the country in hopes it would decrease consumption. (Ban on Tobacco, 2001)
There are some people who view the ban on advertising in a favorable way. Banning …show more content…

That said I agree that the country does have a public health interest in opposing the advertising of tobacco. For this reason I agree with the India governments approach that tobacco companies should not be able to profit from advertising harmful products to consumers. I also feel that similarly, alcohol should be banned from advertising, as well as any other potentially harmful products. It is unfair to just single out one industry. In reality I know that just because tobacco isn’t advertised doesn’t mean adults are not going consume it. In fact the Indian Market Research Bureau conducted a survey in 1998, which asked smokers what influenced their decision to start smoking. The results showed “49% of the respondents said they started smoking to see what it was like, 24% said 'all my friends smoke'; and no one said advertising had induced them to start smoking.” (Ban on Tobacco, 2001) Therefore it seems that if the government’s intent was based on the publics health, the best approach to decrease smoking would be to an out right ban on its sale and consumption. Without doing this people will still decide to smoke regardless of a lack of advertising or known health risks. It seems unfair to single out one industry like tobacco when there are much worse dangers created by polluters. According to a collaborative study done

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