Indian govt plans ban on tobacco products

DEMAND for addictive products such as ‘gutka’ and ‘pan masala’ is high in Maharashtra, where millions of labourers, low-wage earners and farm workers — both men and women — are hooked on to the dangerous stuff. Consequently, there is an epidemic of oral cancer in the state and doctors warn of serious consequences. The Maharashtra government is now seriously considering a proposal to ban sale of tobacco products — though not cigarettes and beedi — in the state. This follows similar bans imposed by Kerala and Madhya Pradesh in recent days. Satej Patil, the minister of state for food and drug administration, is working on the proposal along with officials of the FDA. The government is also willing to sacrifice revenues of about a billion rupees earned by way of tax on gutka and pan masala. The Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act 2006, which was notified for implementation from August 5, 2011, by the Government of India, envisages a complete ban on gutkha and chewing tobacco products. Importantly, the act states that tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food products and with both gutka and chewing tobacco products having been classified as food, all states have to be impose a ban on their manufacture and sale. Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, associate professor, Head and Neck Department, Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, notes that gutka, pan masala and other such products are posing serious health problems in Maharashtra. Citing a global adult tobacco survey of the federal ministry of health and family welfare, Chaturvedi notes that 17 million Maharashtrians above 18 consume smokeless tobacco. “By World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria, every second tobacco user dies prematurely,” notes the professor. “Therefore, 8.5 million Maharashtrians will die prematurely because of smokeless tobacco. All these deaths will happen because of cancer, heart attack and lung diseases.” According to Chaturvedi, analysis of various market preparations of gutka and pan masala in India have shown high levels of heavy metals including lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, copper and nickel in such products. The cost on public health is huge. And the addiction to these substances hurt the poor and the lower-middle-class the most. A majority of auto-rickshaw and taxi-drivers in Mumbai are addicted to these substances. Travelling in Mumbai’s suburban trains, one can see hundreds of teenagers casually slicing off the tiny sachets containing pan masala or gutka and emptying it into their mouth. Tell them about the dangers these substances pose and they just laugh it away. But ask doctors and surgeons at public hospitals and they reveal a horrific story of how entire generations are being wiped off by deadly cancers that strike the youth in the prime of their life.