The Delhi government on Monday urged four Bollywood actors to refrain from endorsing pan masala products as these contain areca nuts, a potential cancer causing agent.
The request was made in letters to the wives of the actors Ajay Devgan, Shah Rukh Khan, Arbaaz Khan and Govinda as they did not respond to the earlier requests by the Delhi health department.
"It is an humble appeal to you for encouraging Shah Rukh Khan not to participate in advertisements of pan masala in larger public health interest," said a letter written to Gauri, Shah Rukh Khan's wife.
Similar letters were written to wives of other three actors also.
"Earlier a letter was written to Shah Rukh Khan urging him not to participate in such advertisements in public interest. Nonetheless we (Delhi government) have not received any response till date nor he has plugged doing such advertisements," said the letter written to Gauri.
The letter said that even if these pan masalas do not contain tobacco or nicotine, they surely contain areca nuts (supari) and now there is a lot of scientific evidence to prove that supari causes cancer.
Earlier, a similar letter was written to actress Sunny Leone, over her role in advertisements endorsing tobacco products and pan masala.