Sale Of Gutkha In Maharashtra Will Become A Non-Bailable Offence, Says Govt

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday told the Legislative Council that sale of gutka, banned in the state, would be made a non-bailable offence.

Punishment for the offence would be enhanced to three years in prison, the government said.

Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde alleged through a calling attention motion that though anti-gutka laws are in place, gutka -- a scented tobacco mix -- is smuggled from neighbouring states.

Smuggling happens with connivance of corrupt officials in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the NCP leader alleged, demanding an inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

In response, Minister of State for FDA Madan Yerawar said gutka is manufactured in other states where it is not banned, and the Maharashtra FDA, since 2012-13, has seized gutka worth Rs 114.2 crore.

Munde said Maharashtra has the highest number of youth falling prey to cancer due to chewing of gutka. He demanded inquiry into continuing sale of gutka despite the ban.

FDA minister Girish Bapat said that currently the sale of gutka is a bailable offence with a punishment of a maximum of six months in prison.

The government has held discussions with the Director General of Police and the Law and Judiciary Department, and will make the offence non-bailable, he said.

"The Centre has given us the permission to do so. Once the technicalities are sorted out (and the amendment made), those found guilty will have to face a rigorous imprisonment for three years," the senior minister said.


An inquiry by the vigilance squad of the FDA is underway into illegal sale of gutka, and the government will order a CID probe if the Leader of Opposition is still not satisfied with its report when it comes out, Bapat assured.

Courtesy:Outlook India

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FSSAI asks states to strictly comply with SC ban on sale of gutka containing tobacco

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has directed all states to strictly comply with the Supreme Court order banning the sale of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine, saying some states were violating the order.

“It has come to the notice of FSSAI that the prohibited substances i.e. gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco and/or nicotine as ingredients are available for sale in some states and union territories despite those states having issued notifications banning the same,” said Rajesh Singh, director (regulatory compliance division), FSSAI, in a letter to the commissioners of food safety and officers-in-charge of food safety of all states and union territories. 

According to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on sales) Regulations, 2011, issued by the FSSAI, under the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006, tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food products.

The ministry of health & family welfare in December 2016 had issued a complete ban on the production, promotion and sale of food products containing tobacco and nicotine as ingredients across India. These included gutka, pan masala, zarda and tobacco-based flavoured mouth fresheners.

The move followed a Supreme Court order of 23 September 2016, banning chewing tobacco products. While Bihar, Karnataka, Mizoram, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh have issued orders in compliance of the apex court’s order, several states are yet to follow suit, officials at FSSAI said.

The apex Court had also directed the statutory authorities and secretaries (health department) of all states and UTs to file their affidavits on the issue of total compliance of the ban. The manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine or any other products with these ingredients is prohibited.

Tobacco use is the foremost preventable cause of death and disease in India and globally. As per the Global Audit Tobacco Survey—India (GATS) 2010, over 200 million Indians consume smokeless tobacco (through chewing for instance), making the burden of mortality and morbidity from these products very high in India.

Available evidence suggests that India has the highest incidence of oral cancer in the world.

Source: Mint

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Label 'tobacco' as food item to ban it, suggests Delhi government to Centre

Delhi government's health department has urged the Centre to amend the definition of 'Food' and label 'tobacco' as a food item in the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 to tackle the menace of chewable tobacco in India.

"It is mentionable that no government will allow to put anything inside the mouth which is a poison or a toxic substance. If we modify the definition of 'food' by saying that 'a substance which is put into the mouth for the purpose of consumption fully or partially, by methods like chewing, sucking or any other method may be labelled as a 'Food Item," said S K Arora, Additional Director, Health, Government of Delhi, in a letter to the Union Health Ministry.

Referring to the 2011 regulation of Food Safety Act which prohibits consumption of any substance as food which contains tobacco or nicotine as an additive substance, Arora said, "Thus, all kinds of chewable tobacco whether raw, scented, flavoured or any other will automatically get banned permanently through a Central Act for which no state will have to issue repeated notifications and which usually lands up in the court because of the tobacco industry's interference."

Arora said consumption of chewable tobacco is increasing in Delhi because of surrogate advertisements of pan masala, especially by Bollywood celebrities.

Immediately after coming to power in February 2015, the AAP government had issued a notification banning chewable tobacco but some manufacturing companies filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court on account of which it could not implemented.

"The previous notification lapsed its 1 year term but the court could not give a concrete decision on this matter.

"However, Delhi Government on its commitment to public health revised the notification on April 13, 2016 after the lapse of the previous notification. But this time also this notification has been challenged in the High Court and is due for hearing on May 3," Arora said.

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Oral mucosal lesions highly present among Kerala migrant workers

Oral mucosal lesions are highly prevalent in the users of chewing tobacco among migrant workers in Kerala, a study revealed.

Oral mucosal lesions (OML) were seen in 36.3 percent of the participants and among chewing or smokeless tobacco users, 44.6 percent had lesions.

The study led by O.P. Aslesh from the Academy of Medical Sciences, Kannur began in 2013. It was carried out among male migrant workers, most of them under 30 years of age working in factories in parts of Kannur district. 

The study showed that the prevalence of use of chewing tobacco product was 71.7 percent among the male migrant workers in the area, which was over five times more than among all the entire male population of Kerala as shown in the global adult tobacco use survey in 2010.

The sale of chewing tobacco has been banned in the state since May 2012. However, the study revealed that in spite of the ban, the use was high among male migrants.

Oral mucosal lesions like leukoplakia, erythroplakia and sub-mucous fibrosis are considered as precancerous lesions associated with the use of tobacco. This known fact has again been found true in the study.

According to the Kerala government's estimates, there are around 2.5 million migrant workers mostly from North Indian states, West Bengal and the northeast.

Aslesh's team found out that the prevalence of current use of smoked tobacco, chewing tobacco and alcohol use were respectively41.8 percent, 71.7 percent and 56.6 percent among migrants.

Oral cancer is the second most common cancer among males in India and the main cause attributed to this is the use of chewing tobacco besides alcohol consumption.

Among the current smokers, 90.2 percent use cigarettes only, 4.5 percent use beedi only and 5.4 percent use both.

Among the current users of chewing tobacco, 37.7 percent were using products containing plain tobacco leaves. Khaini was used by 26.9 percent, pan masala by 28 percent, zarda by 6.1 percent and gutka by 2.9 percent. These are chemically treated areca nut products with or without tobacco.

The practice of chewing tobacco was seen in 77.9 per cent of migrants from Uttar Pradesh and 70.1 percent from Bihar.

Source: Madhyamam

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State-level laws banning gutka are impacting product availability and use: WHO

A study by the World Health Organisation to examine the impact of gutka ban in select states of India has found that state-level laws banning gutka are having a positive impact – reduced product availability and a decrease in consumption of gutka. 

The study, 'Examining the impacts of the gutka bans in selected states in India' revealed that the support for gutka bans is very high (92%) and there was an almost universal agreement (99%) that gutka bans are good for the health of India’s youth.

The study was conducted by the World Health Organization Country Office for India in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in seven states (Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa) and the National Capital Region region.

“These findings have a strong message that regulatory mechanisms are effective and can have a positive impact on the consumption pattern,” said Dr Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to India. 

Surveys were conducted with 1,001 current and former gutka users and 458 tobacco product retailers to gain insight into the e ffect of the bans on consumer use and product availability in seven states and the National Capital Territory. 

Observations of 450 retail environments and 54 in-depth interviews with government officials, enforcement officials and citizens working with civil society groups were also conducted to the same end.

The study has recommended the following measures for better public health impact and saving lives:

• Government to expand the Gutka ban to all smokeless tobacco products. The ban should also cover products that can be bought separately and mixed to be consumed as Gutka or a product similar to Gutka (by whatever named called).
  
• Enforcement mechanisms need to be strengthened to ensure complete compliance of the ban
  
• Provision for tobacco cessation services to be scaled up to cater to the unmet need for cessation after the ban
  
• Products like pan masala are used as a base for making products akin to Gutka and also are produced and marketed by the same manufacturers under the similar brand names. These pan masala products are blatantly advertised and act as a surrogate advertising medium for smokeless tobacco.
  
• Therefore, the Government needs to take urgent action to stop advertisements of pan masala to protect the vulnerable sections of society including the youth.

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