Don’t be fooled by the shiny pouches

They are cheap and easily available. They come in small, colourful pouches often masquerading as harmless mouth fresheners. But neither fancy branding nor disingenuous claims can mask the fact that gutkha, khaini, pan masala and other forms of smokeless tobacco are among the deadliest consumer products in the market today.

For manufacturers of smokeless tobacco, the byword seems to be “hook ‘em young” which accounts for the appealing flavours, pricing, packaging and distribution networks that run close to schools and other educational institutions.

Much has been said and written about the strong link between smokeless/chewing tobacco and cancer. Smokeless tobacco is one of the leading causes of oral cancer in India and is also associated with pancreatic cancer, high blood pressure, increased heart rate and reproductive problems.

But the reality is that despite growing awareness, India has among the highest rates of smokeless tobacco use in the world. More than a quarter of (25.9%) adults in India still consume smokeless tobacco, with over one-fifth (21.4%) using these products every day.  In Kerala, 10.7% of adults, including 13.1% males and 8.5% females use smokeless tobacco products (GATS 2009-10).

More tobacco-using Indians (75%) consume it in the form of smokeless products such as gutka, khaini and tobacco-mixed betel quid than cigarettes or bidis. More than nine in 10 female tobacco users consume smokeless products.

Tobacco has been a major health concern worldwide for many decades now. There has been plenty of action at policy level to limit tobacco-related damage to public health and associated costs.

We have regulations such as COTPA, 2003 with a wide mandate, including ban on smoking in public places, prohibition on the sale of tobacco products to minors and near educational institutions and controls on advertisement of tobacco products.

As recently as August last year, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued a notification prohibiting the use of tobacco and nicotine as ingredients in any food product, effectively banning the manufacture of tobacco-containing gutka, pan masala and khaini.

But the sad fact is anti-tobacco laws get flouted, harmful tobacco products are readily available to young children near schools and thousands of new cases of oral cancer are reported every year. What we score at policy level, we lose at implementation!

It will need collective effort to stamp out tobacco in all its forms. We need to be as spirited at ensuring our regulations are followed as we are at framing them.  Those bright shiny pouches shouldn’t be littering our streets or blighting young lives.