All raid, no action

The state govt banned gutkha in September last year, but Food and Drugs Control Authority has taken no action against 7 companies found making and selling

FDCA chief says the delay is due to procedure to be followed, while a former drug inspector says action can be filed in hours Eight months of ban on gutkha, several raids, 21 positive test results on samples, but not a single case in court. Little wonder, the cancer causing tobacco product sells uninterrupted in Gujarat. Gutkha was banned in the state on September 11, last year under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. In these eight months the health department has not filed a single case even though 21 samples of seven manufacturers have failed the test. Their files are lying with Food and Drugs Control Authority. FDCA Commissioner H G Koshia attributed the delay to the procedure to be followed. "Laboratory test reports take some time to come. Besides, action is initiated on them only after due approval of my office. The officials who have taken the samples file a complaint in the court and then the judicial procedure begins. All this takes some time. Hence the delay in filing cases in court." 'ONE-HOUR JOB' However, former drug inspector Tushar Bhatt has a different take. According to him, it takes not more than hour to check if a given sample has trace of tobacco in it. "It's an hour's job to ascertain if a sample contains tobacco. I had filed cases of misbranding against some gutkha companies. I appear in court even today in connection with those cases." Gutkha is the biggest enemy of public health and immediate action should be taken against companies that violate the ban. "What could have been done in a few hours has not been done even in eight months. This is not done," he added. Incidentally, the authorities checked 25,597 units in the first 30 days of the ban and seized raw material and pouches worth Rs 50 lakh across the state. No raid has been conducted after this exercise. Under section 59-1 of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, it is illegal to add tobacco in food items. So, as pan masala is an edible item, tobacco cannot be added to it FDCA has raided dozens of places in the state and seized gutkha products. Samples taken during these raids were sent to FDCA laboratory in Vadodara. Test reports have come in for all samples and Koshia has confirmed the test showed presence of tobacco in them, but they are gathering dust in the department. Dipika Chauhan, assistant commissioner in FDCA, said, “We have files against some gutkha companies. We will file court cases against them within a few days at district level.” Sources in FDCA told Mirror that the seven companies selling gutkha pouches in market are Vimal, R and D, Kuber, Chutki, Ketan, Zatpat, Tulsi. ‘NO ACTION DUE TO DONATION’ Lashing out at the delay in taking action, Dr Chaitanya Shroff, assistant professor of surgical oncology at Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute, said the government was reluctant to act because gutkha companies donated money to political parties. “Gutkha companies donate money to political parties in a big way. Tobacco companies are also among the highest tax payers. Gutkha is one of the biggest reasons for cancer and the government should be tough with its manufacturers” said Dr Shroff. PUBLICITY BLITZ The ban on Gutkha was imposed amid a lot of publicity in Gujarat last year. Chief Minister Narendra Modi is said to have used the ban to canvas for his party. He had asked people at several public meetings to give a “missed” call on a certain number in support of ban on gutkha. It turned out that it was a ploy to create a database of the people to whom the BJP could send publicity messages. Politics, notwithstanding, a hype was created in the state in a big way on the ban. Mirror had also reported on September 11, 2012, how people were buying pan masala and tobacco separately and mixing them to make instant tobacco-gutkha, effectively negating the impact of ban. GUTKHA CAUSES CANCER Gutkha is a preparation of crushed areca nut, tobacco, catechu, paraffin, slaked lime and sweet or savory flavours. It is a powdery, granular, light brownish to white substance. Within moments of chewing, it mixes with saliva and turns deep red in colour. It gives its users more intense kick than tobacco chewing, snuffing and smoking. It is consumed much like chewing tobacco, and like chewing tobacco, it could lead to oral cancer. Every year, 45,000 new cases of cancer are detected in the country. Out of these 16,000 are oral cancer cases. Gujarat has the highest incidence of oral cancer in the country. PERMANENT BAN Gutkha is banned under the provision to ban any food product containing harmful adulterants in the centrallyenacted Food Safety and Regulation (Prohibition) Act, 2011. The Act allows these products to be banned for a year and it can be extended every year before it lapses, resulting in a pseudo permanent ban. Accordingly, the ban in Gujarat will end on September 10, but it is expected to be extended by way of fresh notification by the government. As many as 17 states have banned the sale, manufacture, distribution and storage of gutkha and all its variants. Madhya Pradesh was the first state to do so on April 1, 2012. Gujarat banned it on September 11, 2012.