Government wants ban on smokeless tobacco

There may soon be a complete ban on all forms of smokeless tobacco in India such as pan masala and flavoured chewing tobacco following the already existing ban on gutkha.  

 Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on Friday released a monograph on ‘Smokeless Tobacco and Public Health in India’ at ongoing 7th session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) that revealed a clear policy recommendation to enforce a countrywide ban on production, supply and distribution of all packaged smokeless tobacco products.  

The monograph is India’s first comprehensive report on the impact of smokeless tobacco consumption in the country and a set of recommendations considering the situation in India. “India is the first country to prohibit the sale, storage and manufacturing of gutkha across all states. However, stronger measures are required for effective implementation of the law. We are also considering the key recommendations of this report,” Amal Pusp, Director, tobacco control, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said. Available evidence suggests that India shares the maximum burden of oral cancer in the world which is directly associated with the smokeless tobacco products. Doctors claim that almost 90 per cent of these oral cancers are linked to tobacco use.

“The sale of pan masala and areca nut, which are strongly associated with smokeless tobacco use, should be banned because of their carcinogenicity and the increasing prevalence of oral pre-cancerous and cancerous conditions attributable to these substances, especially among youth,” the Health Ministry report said.

“Pan masala and flavoured chewing tobacco are currently being sold separately to circumvent law and this should be strictly prohibited. Strict orders from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and court should restrict sale in this form. Policies should be implemented to prevent the sale of tobacco products in places that also sell basic food items or medicines,” it said.

Besides gutkha, 11 states, including Delhi, have over a period of time banned flavoured chewing tobacco, and three states — Maharashtra, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh — have banned flavoured areca nut too. For the smokeless tobacco products that are currently not banned, the subsequent recommendations apply, Health Ministry officials said.  

The Ministry has also observed a trend of consumption of smokeless tobacco products among Indian women. Currently, 70 million women age 15 and older use smokeless tobacco products. The relative risk of oral cancer among women using smokeless tobacco products is eight times higher than that for men, and the relative risk of cardiovascular disease among women using such products is 2–4 times higher than in men.