Plight of a TV news watcher

Recently Dilip Gandhi claimed that there is no India specific study that proves linkage of tobacco (specifically Beedi) habits in India and cancer. Shyam Charan Gupta chipped in with his two cents that there are other products like sugar that pose health issues. Can we warn the people about the harmful effects of everyone of these products?

News channels have been covering these issues for the last couple of days. Congress leaders, Trinamool leaders, doctors and many others came on TV to testify that Tobacco usage is indeed bad for Indians. There were many comments on the intelligence of Dilip Gandhi and Shyam Charan Gupta. But other than indignation there was hardly any content in these responses.

I spent some hours browsing channels looking for some answers in vain. There was no detail of specific studies on tobacco usage and cancer in India. There was no discussion on the issue of educating the public on the harmful effects of specific food items. Just more and more people appearing to say how stupid these comments are, and why these comments do not warrant any discussion. Sadly, it appears that the media accept Dilip Gandhi and Shyam Charan Gupta as deserving representatives of the public, at least in their levels of intelligence.

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