On doctor's day, doctors and medical associations have urged chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to enforce the gutkha and paan masala ban effectively in the state.
Several oncologists from different districts called Maharashtra Cancer Warriors, as well as deans of dental colleges, have written to Fadnavis, the FDA minister and commissioner of the FDA for a permanent ban as well as better enforcement of the current ban.
Dr Kailash Sharma, director (academics), Tata Memorial Hospital, in his letter to the CM, wrote, "We sincerely urge the CM to continue the ban on flavoured chewing tobacco and flavoured supari (paan masala) permanently to save our future generation. Currently, the ban is applicable for only one year and has to be renewed annually."
Agreeing with Sharma, secretary of Indian Dental Association Dr Ashok Dhoble said the epidemic of mouth cancer cannot be curtailed without a comprehensive prohibition of selling these lethal products freely as mouth fresheners. "We sincerely request that you will use your good offices to continue the ban on these smokeless tobacco and supari products to prevent premature deaths in the country," added Dhoble.
Maharashtra is the first state to ban gutkha and paan masala, containing magnesium carbonate, in July 2012. However, this ban is renewed by a new notification each year. "Though this ban has been notified successive years, the enforcement has been far from satisfactory. It is well known that people are able to access the prohibited products easily on any kiosk," said Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, oral cancer surgeon at Tata hospital.
"Following ban on gutkha, paan masala has become popular and is still being marketed in Maharashtra. While flavoured tobacco/paan masala advertising is prohibited, paan masala ads (surrogate of chewing tobacco) are omnipresent, especially on TV with rampant Bollywood endorsement. This aggressive marketing targets nearly 2 crore smokeless tobacco users as potential consumers."
As per the global adult tobacco survey of 2010, 27.6% of Maharashtra's adult population was chewing tobacco (jarda, khaini, mava, kharra, masheri, gudakhu, paan, gutkha, paan masala). Nearly 2 crore people were using smokeless tobacco. Most of the consumers use smokeless tobacco along with supari (betel nut or areca nut). This is causing epidemic proportion of fatal diseases, such as heart attack and stroke apart from cancers. Mouth cancer is the commonest type in men in Maharashtra.
