Ban on loose cigarettes: An open letter from a cancer
survivor to PM Narendra Modi
Respected Modi Ji,
It was with great sense of pride and satisfaction that I
learnt from the Newspapers reports that Government of India has decided to
ban sale of loose cigarettes as it constitutes over seventy percent of its
sale.
However, the joy was short lived as today it has been
announced that the amendments of COTPA (such as ban on sale of loose
cigarettes) is going to be deferred. Although I did not believe in the paper
published by the Congress party with caption U-Turn , it immediately
occurred to me that the decision not to implement ban on sale of loose
cigarettes is likely to be dubbed as another U-Turn.
Sir, I am a tobacco victim and cancer survivor. After
having smoked cigarettes made attractive by constant advertising with
inciting slogans like, ‘Made for Each Other’ by ITC , I was detected with
Throat Cancer in 2008. It resulted in removal of my voice box and now I
speak with the help of a prosthesis (machine). Eating and Speaking has
become a challenge.
Mr. Prime Minister, the case before Consumer Court filed
by me for compensation from ITC could not succeed as one of the grounds
taken in defense was that I could not produce bills for cigarettes purchased by
me. Can you imagine any person being issued with bills for sale of loose
cigarettes by the vendors. Therefore, if at all loose cigarettes are to be
sold then issuance of sale bills must be made mandatory for loose as well
as packets of cigarettes.
For generation of jobs and revenue at the cost of millions
of lives lost due to cigarette smoking and expenditure on health care
cannot be justified on this score. You had tweeted on 31st May (World
no tobacco day) for a healthier and Tobacco Free India. You had pledged to
reduce tobacco consumption in India. Unfortunately your senior Cabinet
Ministers do not support your ideologies and continue to patronage tobacco
lobby.
It is, therefore, prayed that the Honourable Prime
Minister may kindly reconsider its rethinking on proposed curbs on sale
and consumption of tobacco and implement it with full vigour. Sir, you have
evoked high hopes in people of India. It is our cherished desire that the
Government shall take decisive steps to make India tobacco free
At the end, it is urged that all the proposed amendments
in COPTA and its implementation may kindly be done immediately.
Yours Sincerely,
Discovered — protein responsible
for the sense of touch
In a new study published in the journal Nature, researchers
have revealed the protein that could be responsible for the sense of touch in
mammals.
The study, carried out by researchers at The Scripps
Research Institute (TSRI), identified two new ion-channel proteins in mice.
They found that mice that lost their sensitivity to ordinary light touch did
not have a mechanoreceptor protein called Piezo2 ion-channel in their skin
cells and nerve endings. However, they retained their normal sensitivity to
painful mechanical stimuli.
The significant presence of Piezo2 in the touch-sensing
neurons based in the dorsal root ganglia of the spine and extend their nerve
processes into the skin, suggested that it could be a transducer in sense
of touch of mammals. ‘Across a range of tests, we observed a dramatic reduction
in their responsiveness to ordinary light touch stimuli,’ said Sanjeev Ranade,
postdoctoral fellow at TSRI and lead author of the study.
According to Ardem Patapoutian, professor at TSRI and
investigator with Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the expression of Piezo2
indicated that the protein is likely to be involved in the principal touch
sensor in mammals. The finding suggests that the detection of light, innocuous
touch–which we commonly think of as the ‘sense of touch’–is mediated
principally by one set of nerve ends using piezo2 ion channels.
Stronger, pain-causing touch sensations appear to be
mediated by a less force-sensitive set of nerve ends with their own ion channel
proteins, which have yet to be discovered.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
05.12.2014
Don’t Get Upset With PEOPLE or SITUATIONS….They are
POWERLESS Without Your REACTION….!
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