Ban on gutka, pan masala, khaini, supari – can we finally say goodbye?

Exactly one year after the landmark decision to ban gutka and pan masala, the Maharashtra government became the first state which will look to prohibit all flavoured chewing tobacco and supari products sold under whatever name or in whatever combination. That means the state government is the first one to wake up to the fact that tobacco and other unpackaged, unbranded products like zarda, khaini, kharra which are being sold on the black market. The government has also decided to make it a crime to sell any of the aforementioned products; vendors and manufacturers are likely to attract 10-year jail terms! One man who is extremely happy with this move is Tata Memorial Hospital’s anti-tobacco campaigner extraordinaire Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi who has been incessantly campaigning against tobacco use for a long time. Here’s his view on the move:

It’s in every sense a historic judgement. We shall see the health benefits in as short a time span as the next five years as cancer rates go down. The simple ban on gutka and pan masala didn’t completely cover all the products that like zarda, khaini, kharra, masher, mawa and flavoured supari all of which pose innumerable health hazards. WHO has classified chewing tobacco as a confirmed carcinogen and there’s enough evidence to suggest a causal link with various other diseases like heart ailments, hypertension, increased risk of stroke and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Dangers of gutka, khaini and other forms of smokeless tobacco

Sold as mouth fresheners or something similar, these products use menthol, perfume, spices, sugar, etc. to mask the bitter taste of tobacco and other carcinogens and get youngsters hooked. The truth is that tobacco remains the most dangerous consumer product in the world in the 21st century which kills half its patrons (and I see many of them every day, those who’ve been  disfigured by the most horrible forms of oral and mouth cancer) and its very existence is a bane to mankind.

 In India, tobacco causes 45% of all cancer deaths and 20% of all deaths. People find it impossible to quit because of the addictive nature of the chemical nicotine – so addictive that WHO considers tobacco addiction a disease which sadly afflicts one out of every three Indian. Along with tobacco, gutka and pan masala contains other harmful metal content like – lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, copper and nickel. Areca nut or betel nut – one of the main ingredients of all these products is a confirmed carcinogen according to WHO and a cause of severe illnesses. (Read: Have you joined the War on Tobacco)

Adverse effects of areca nut

• Highly addictive
• Usually taken along with smokeless tobacco
• International Agency for research on Cancer, World Health Organization has classified Areca Nut as confirmed cancer causing substances.
• It contains several polyphenols and nitrosamines that are confirmed carcinogenic.
• It causes impairment of oral and dental health.
• Its usage is strongly associated with precancerous lesions and cancer of mouth that is a leading cancer in India.
• Studies have shown association between supari chewing and cancers of the Liver, oesophagus,  stomach and lung.
• Supari use is associated with hypertension and ischemic heart disease.
• Usage of Supari adversely affects reproductive health in women and also affects fetus.
• Supari chewing is associated with diabetes, obesity and several metabolic disorders.

As a result India has one of the highest oral cancer rates in the world (1 lakh every year) and half of them die within the first 12 months of diagnosis.

A watertight legal move

The Maharashtra government by ensuring gutka and pan masala are classified as food has ensured that it comes under the purview of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 (FSSA) which gives the government a watertight case to for its continued ban. Smokeless tobacco lobbyists had argued that since these products contained tobacco and had no nutritional value they couldn’t be classified as food and would be outside the purview of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 and should instead come under the Tobacco Act 2003 but thankfully common sense prevailed and the ban was upheld.

While bans have been tried earlier, this time the law is watertight so that the unscrupulous elements of the tobacco lobby cannot find loopholes to sell their products legally. Under the FSSA any food item containing nicotine and tobacco are banned since they’re injurious to health.  (Read: Gutka ban – only on paper) The Commissioner of Food Safety of the State is empowered under Section 30 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 to prohibit in the product.

It’s therefore illegal to manufacture, store, sell, and distribute any sort of flavoured tobacco and flavoured supari by whatsoever name it is available in the market in the state of Maharashtra in the interest of public health! Now if only the rest of India could follow suit so we can say goodbye to this evil menace once and for all.