Govt to continue fight against tobacco firms: Ramadoss

Accusing multinational tobacco companies of dumping their products in India and trying to "entice" youngsters to take up smoking, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Monday said the government would continue to fight the companies tooth and nail.

"We have a lot of multinational tobacco companies coming to India, dismantling their units in Europe and the US, because they see India, China and Indonesia as potential countries where they can dump their products," Ramadoss said during the inauguration of the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Centres at Apollo Hospital in Gandhinagar.

"The tobacco industry is the only industry in the world which kills five million of its consumers every year," Ramdoss said.

"So, they want five million new consumers every year. They entice people, especially youngsters, who have just stepped out of school (by propagating tobacco usage) through movies and other means (of advertisments)," he said.

"We are trying to check these means and our fight against them is going to go on," Ramadoss said.

"Forty percent of all health-related problems are associated with the usage of tobacco. It is not just cancer, it is cardio-vascular, nuerological, skin ailments, kidney cancer, deformities and a whole lot of issues," he said.

"Therefore the government is very active on prevention and usage of tobacco in the country," he added.

"The government is trying to prevent the usage and propagation of tobacco because we have a huge, huge problem," Ramdoss said.