Skip to main content

Industry lobby pushing for alcohol and tobacco, 'jeopardizing' response to Covid-19

By Bobby Ramakant, Shobha Shukla, Sandeep Pandey*
Amidst the Covid-19 crisis initially the government was trying to enforce compliance of social (physical) distancing norms very strictly. However, rush of migrant workers to home, which was unpreventable, and big queues in front of liquor shops, which were entirely preventable, have thrown all safeguards regarding distancing to wind.
In Lucknow at two community kitchens being run for the needy some people consumed liquor on May 4 and created ruckus such that the kitchens had to be shut down. The ultimate losers were women and children.
Unable to resist the temptation to generate revenue, which seems to be as strong as temptation for liquor itself, the government has ensured that the money which would otherwise have been spent on food or medicines for the family of poor would now be squandered.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco and alcohol both increase the risk to coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Tobacco and alcohol industries coax children and young people with their lies and deception tactics to lure them into addictions that cause diseases, misery and untimely deaths.
Even the often-cited argument that governments earn revenue from tobacco and alcohol is not fully true, because governments lose much more money if we look at the cost of diseases, disabilities and untimely deaths caused by these addictions.
The WHO’s writing on the wall is clear: there is “no safe limit” to tobacco and alcohol consumption. Tobacco and alcohol corporations have knowingly marketed a product that kills, using deception and lies.
The industry lobby has pushed its markets even in the times when the world is hit strongly by the public health emergency of Covid-19. For example, the alcohol industry lobby said last month “According to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, food and alcohol are essential commodities...”
One blessing in disguise of Covid-19 is that everyone on the planet probably knows by now that food is among the most essential needs of humankind. But alcohol and tobacco are not only non-essential but they will actually defeat us in our efforts to contain Covid-19.

Alcohol increases the risk of severe Covid-19 outcomes

According to the WHO, “Alcohol is known to be harmful to health in general, and is well understood to increase the risk of injury and violence, including intimate partner violence, and can cause alcohol poisoning. At times of lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, alcohol consumption can exacerbate health vulnerability, risk-taking behaviours, mental health issues and violence.”
The WHO adds: “Alcohol consumption is associated with a range of communicable and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health disorders, which can make a person more vulnerable to Covid-19. In particular, alcohol compromises the body’s immune system and increases the risk of adverse health outcomes. Therefore, people should minimize their alcohol consumption at any time, and particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Alcohol is responsible for 3 million deaths a year worldwide. Tobacco kills over 8 million people every year. Each of these untimely deaths due to alcohol and tobacco could have been averted. This is entirely a human-made pandemic, propelled by its industry knowingly.
The WHO also warned that “Alcohol has effects, both short-term and long-term, on almost every single organ of your body. Overall, the evidence suggests that there is no “safe limit” – in fact, the risk of damage to your health increases with each drink of alcohol consumed. Alcohol use, especially heavy use, weakens the immune system and thus reduces the ability to cope with infectious diseases.
There is only one economic truth: profits made by sale of tobacco and alcohol are the lifeline of industry, which has scant regard for Planet
Alcohol, even in very small quantities, is known to cause certain types of cancer. Alcohol alters your thoughts, judgement, decision-making and behaviour. Heavy use of alcohol increases the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), one of the most severe complications of Covid-19. Alcohol has a deleterious effect on your immune system and will not stimulate immunity and virus resistance.”

Link between alcohol and violence

Increase in violence against women has emerged as a serious concern during Covid-19 lockdown. Stress, disruption of social and protective networks, decreased access to services due to the lockdown have exacerbated the risk of violence for women (as well as their children), especially those who are in abusive relationships.
WHO has stated categorically that “Alcohol is closely associated with violence. It increases the risk, frequency and severity of perpetration of interpersonal violence such as intimate partner violence, sexual violence, youth violence, elder abuse, and violence against children. Men perpetrate most of the violence against women, which is worsened by their alcohol consumption”.

Deadly partners: tobacco and Covid-19

Scientific evidence from Covid-19 hard-hit countries globally has shown that elderly people and also those with conditions such as non-communicable diseases are at a much higher risk of severe outcomes of Covid-19, including death. Tobacco use is the biggest common risk factor of major NCDs such as heart diseases and stroke, cancers, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases among others.
Both tobacco smoking and vaping adversely affect the respiratory system and have the potential to damage the lungs as well as weaken the immune system. Tobacco has a deadly connection with the world’s biggest killer infectious disease tuberculosis (TB), which heightens the risk of serious outcomes of Covid-19.
The recent release of a report by the National Institute of Health in Italy stated that more than 99% of those who have died from Covid-19 had pre-existing medical conditions, including high blood pressure, heart disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and diabetes. Tobacco (along with alcohol) is a major common risk factor for all these listed conditions.
According to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, 86% of deaths due to Covid-19 have exhibited comorbidity related to diabetes, chronic kidney issues, hypertension and heart related problems. Tobacco is again a common and major risk factor here (along with alcohol).
Tobacco spitting in public places could enhance the spread of the Covid-19. According to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), “Chewing/ smokeless tobacco products (Gutkha, ‘Paan masala’ with tobacco, ‘Paan’ and other chewing tobacco products) and areca nut (supari) increase the production of saliva followed by a very strong urge to spit.”
ICMR has urged to refrain from consuming smokeless tobacco products and spitting in public places. State Government of Uttar Pradesh in India had banned the sale of ‘paan masala’, in view of the alarming Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Tobacco and alcohol revenue is less than economic loss because of it

With the looming danger of economic recession due to Covid-19, it becomes even more vital to avert the huge financial cost of tobacco use to the global economy.
According to the World Bank, “Tobacco-related deaths are not only preventable tragedies but have an important economic cost. Worldwide, the total economic damage of smoking (including medical costs and productivity losses from death and disability) has been estimated at more than US$ 1.4 trillion per year, equivalent to 1.8 percent of the world’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”
The economic evaluation report prepared by the World Economic Forum and the Harvard School of Public Health states that 5 NCDs (cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes, and mental illness) “could contribute a cumulative output loss of US$ 47 trillion in the two decades from 2011, representing a loss of 75% of global GDP in 2010 (US$ 63 trillion).”
Even if we believe the lie of industry that ‘tobacco and alcohol revenue is needed for development’ (which is not true of course if we see the economic loss these addictions incur), then how come states like Gujarat where there is a ban on alcohol or rich nations like USA where there is a sharp decline in tobacco use, are cited for their development?
There is only one economic truth in tobacco and alcohol: the profits made by their sale are the lifeline of its industry. And this industry has scant regard for the people or the planet.

Who is to blame?

Tobacco and alcohol are scientifically proven strong addictions and the companies have used its tricks of deception and lies to hook people, especially when they are young, to its deadly products. It is difficult to quit these life-threatening addictions, so ‘hook them young’ is the old mantra of such companies.
Is it the responsibility of our children and youth to stay away from tobacco and alcohol, or, is it the responsibility of the government to ensure that children and youth and all others, are not exposed to the misleading deceptive advertising of the tobacco and alcohol industry? Whose responsibility is it to hold to account corporations whose products cause epidemic-proportion of preventable diseases and deaths?
Tobacco and alcohol use are entirely avoidable risk factors when the world is trying to contain a ravaging Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 has not only severely constrained health systems but has also caused humanitarian crises in the lives of so many of our population.
The government of India (and all other state governments) needs to review the merits of the decision of opening tobacco and alcohol shops. Among the most important and corrective political decisions would be the one to ban tobacco and alcohol altogether. Citizens need to be reassured that people's interests matter most.
---
*Bobby Ramakant and Shobha Shukla are with Citizen News Service, Sandeep Pandey is Magsaysay award winning social activist and Vice president of Socialist Party (India)

Comments

aarkp said…
Too long to read fully, particularly when u r a smoker yourself and also enjoy your peg of whiskey or whatever. If one were to ban things harmful to humanity we would be left with pretty little in our lives. In fact, there are risks galore in living.
Control sale of tobacco products and alcohol if you feel it is a must, but banning them has never worked and never will.

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.