[Intl-tobacco] India: Sponsorship of zoos by tobacco firms decried

[Robert Weissman]

Sponsorship of zoos by tobacco firms decried
Source: The Economic Times (India), Wednesday, 7/26/00

BANGALORE=20

THE NATIONAL Organisation for Tobacco Eradication has protested any
attempted involvement in the sponsorship of the Nehru Zoological Gardens
in Hyderabad by tobacco manufacturing companies.

A recent news-report has stated that the Hyderabad zoo is turning to
corporates for help and that leading tobacco manufacturers and paper mills
have indicated interest in sponsorship of the zoo and adoption of animals.

In a press release, NOTE national chairman Sharad Vaidya has stated that
sponsorship of zoological gardens by tobacco manufacturers would amount to
targeting of children to promote their products.

It is estimated that the Nehru Zoological Gardens attracted 16,27,300
children during the last financial year, 4,35,600 below 12 years.

MNC tobacco companies have, Dr Vaidya says, been known to rush to the
sites of disasters to show they are good corporate citizens. As
educational institutions, zoos, he adds, should be the last place MNC
tobacco manufacturers should be associated with.

NOTE has claimed that the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team for the
1996 Wills World Cup and the associated marketing had resulted in over
five per cent of children below the age of 15 smoking Wills and 13 to 16
per cent smoking other brands and that more than half of them have been
permanently hooked.

"While all over the world people are revolting against tobacco companies
and courts are imposing heavy penalties for millions of deaths every year,
it is utterly anachronistic that the so-called modern government of Andhra
Pradesh should think of giving animals for adoption to tobacco companies
whose aim is to addict youth to the most dangerous product of this
century," NOTE has argued.

NOTE has appealed to all animal lovers, medical associations, public
spirited citizens, womens=92 groups and environmentalists to strongly oppos=
e
corporate sponsorship of zoos by tobacco manufacturers.