A year after India deferred its deadline for increasing size of pictorial warnings on tobacco products after the parliamentary panel on subordinate legislation examining the provisions of Cigarettes a
A year after India deferred its deadline for increasing size of pictorial warnings on tobacco products after the parliamentary panel on subordinate legislation examining the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act said there was no Indian study to confirm that use of tobacco products leads to cancer, the government on Friday admitted in Parliament that the increase in the number of cancer cases in the country may be “attributed to use of tobacco products” among other reasons. Significantly, the prevalence of cancer in the country has increased by five per cent between 2012 and 2014.
Union health minister J.P. Nadda on Friday said in the Lok Sabha that the “increase in the number of cancer cases in the country may be attributed to use of tobacco products, larger number of ageing population, unhealthy lifestyle, unhealthy diet, better diagnostic facilities”. Earlier Dilip Gandhi, head of parliamentary panel, had sought deferment of the move, claiming that all studies in this regard have come from abroad and one should consider Indian aspect too. While the health ministry pushed the deadline, giving another year to the manufacturers. Strangely, it has now claimed that the use of tobacco products may be attributed to increase in the number of cancer cases.
Citing a report, Time Trends in Cancer Incidence Rate, the health minister informed that breast cancer has shown a significant increase in Age Adjusted Incidence Rate (AAR) over time across all ages with annual percentage change (APC) varying between 1.11 in Delhi to 3.32 in Bangalore. However, the good news is that cervical cancer showed significant decrease in AARs over time across all ages with APC varying between minus 1.25 to minus 3.50 in Chennai.
According to the figures available with the government, Uttar Pradesh reported maximum number of cases of cancer in women, followed by Maharashtra and Bihar. The total number of female cancer cases stands at 5,99,847 in 2015 compared to 5,47,850 in 2012.
Keeping the trend in mind, the Centre is currently implementing a scheme for enhancing tertiary care facilities for cancer patients. Under the scheme, it will assist in the setting up of State Cancer Institutes (SCI) and Tertiary Care Cancer Centres (TCCC) in different parts of the country.
