Anti-tobacco campaign Poster woman Sunita Tomar dies

Updated: Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 14:03 [IST]

New Delhi, April 1: Sunita Tomar, a 28-year old woman, who was the icon of India's tobacco battle passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday.

According to report, Sunita was hospitalized at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai after doctors suspected cancer relapse.

"Sunita came to us three days back with breathing difficulty and weight-loss. She had lost 12kg. We were suspecting a relapse. She was just 28 and mother of two young kids. Though she is only one of the 10 lakh Indians who die every year because of tobacco, I am sure her campaign must have saved millions from picking up the habit," Indian Express quoted Sunita's doctor Pankaj Chaturvedi as saying.

Sunita, by appearing in an advertisement against tobacco products, described her suffering from mouth cancer because of tobacco.

Two days back, she had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding her dissent over the remark of BJP MP Dilip Gandhi against bigger warnings on tobacco products.

[Shocking! No Indian study to affirm tobacco products lead to cancer, says BJP MP]

A parliamentary committee led by BJP MP Dilip Gandhi in a statement had said that no Indian studies could link cancer to tobacco.

"There is no Indian survey report to prove that tobacco consumption leads to cancer. All studies are done abroad... We have to study the Indian context, as four crore people in states like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh are dependent on bidi-making through Tendupatta," Gandhi said.

The parliamentary committee had also urged the Centre to keep on hold its proposal to increase the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco packets.