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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Kerala, the first Indian state to become tobacco advertisement free

Kerala has become India’s first state to be free of tobacco advertisements after the southern state completely did away with giving publicity to the nicotine-laden material at its points-of-sale.

Tobacco advertisements from 95.3 per cent of points-of-sale across 14 districts were successfully removed in an 18-month-long campaign spearheaded by the Public Health wing of the Kerala Health Services Department. The state police joined forces in this mega effort.

Tobacco control champion and Kerala Home Minister Shri Ramesh Chennithala declared Kerala as tobacco advertisement-free at function held in the presence of State Health Minister Shri VS Sivakumar in the Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram on November 14.

Dr AS Pradeep Kumar, Additional Director of Health Services (Public Health) who coordinated this massive effort, said a three-phase activity plan was developed with District Medical Officers at the core. “Sensitisation programmes were conducted with emphasis on Section 5 of COTPA for district officers at the state capital,” he added. “District officers in turn trained and authorised personnel attached to the Primary Health Centre.”

Section 5 of Indian tobacco control law called COTPA, 2003 bans all forms of advertisement, direct or indirect, of tobacco products.

The districts were given the freedom to customise according to their local needs. “This, in turn, raised the level of commitments and ownership taking,” pointed out the medical doctor who has a PhD in tobacco control. “At the state level, we supported the districts by framing guidelines, monitoring and advising course corrections,” said Dr Kumar who is among the few in India to have completed the Global Tobacco Control Leadership Program of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA.  

The process that started during World No Tobacco Day 2013 saw both integrated and intensive drives that effectively pooled the services of health personnel from district to primary health centre level. In drives integrated with regular activities during the first phase from June to December 2013, over 23,500 notices were issued to shops that violated the provisions of Section 5. 

Intensive weeklong drives in January and May 2014 marked the second leg of the campaign. As many as 32,566 shops and 62,365 eateries were inspected during the period 10 to 17 January 2014. While the January round revealed violations in 48.8 per cent of sites, field assessments conducted by personnel of Primary Health Centres in May showed that 90 per cent of points-of-sale were free of tobacco boards. 

In October 2014, teams led by District Medical Officers at the district level and Programme Officers at the Panchayat and Primary Health Centre level certified that tobacco advertisement boards were surfaced out. 

As many as 22,344 points-of-sale in 84 wards across Kerala were observed during 28 October to 7 November. Dr Pradeep Kumar says, “A civil society group with nearly four-decade-long experience in research and field implementation in Kerala conducted the evaluation study.”

The evaluation reported an overall compliance of 95.3 per cent – 98.5 per cent of points-of-sale are free of any advertisement hoardings and 96.7 per cent of points-of-sale are free from stickers and print advertisements. International standards prescribe that 90 per cent of sites have to be free of advertisements to become eligible for the tag of tobacco advertisement free. 

Noted head and neck cancer surgeon Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi of Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Centre and an internationally acclaimed tobacco control proponent said, “Tobacco is the only consumer product in the world that has not a single beneficial use apart from causing death and disability. Industry spends billions in advertising this killer product to lure youngsters. Ban on advertising will save innocent youths from initiating this habit. I congratulate the Kerala Government.”

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2009-10) said 44.2 per cent of adults above 15 years in Kerala had noticed advertisements or promotions on cigarettes and 70.9 percent and 72.3 per cent had noticed advertisements on bidis and smokeless tobacco respectively. 

Bangalore-based senior head and neck cancer surgeon and tobacco control advocate Dr Vishal Rao said, “This is a significant step that Kerala has achieved in its efforts to improve public health of Keralites, especially the youth of Kerala. Youth between the age of 10 and 18 fall prey to the advertisement of tobacco and lured into addiction. Today we are seeing cancers in age group of 20s and 30s, which we earlier saw in the 70s. A healthy society should have less illness, less hospitals and less doctors and this can only be achieved through preventive health.” 

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Oral cancer not the only risk for those who chew tobacco

Contrary to the prevailing notion that chewing tobacco only increases the risk of oral cancer, a study that looked at different researches conducted in India has shown that smokeless tobacco can also cause oesophageal, throat and even stomach cancer.

The findings are critical. While one-third of the country’s population takes tobacco, 21% of them consume smokeless tobacco, such as gutkha and khaini, according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey released in 2010.

“While reviewing various studies, we found the incidence of oesophagal [foodpipe] cancer was higher in the north-east, while in the south we found pancreatic cancer was prevalent in those who consumed smokeless tobacco,” said Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, head and neck cancer surgeon at Tata Memorial Centre and co-author of the review study.

He added that researches in Madhya Pradesh have showed that throat cancer is common among smokeless tobacco users.

The study, titled A Review of Indian Literature for the Association of Smokeless Tobacco with Malignant and Pre-malignant Diseases of Head and Neck Region, was published last week in the Indian Journal of Cancer.

Researchers said the review exposed the risk of developing throat, stomach, oesophageal, pancreatic, cervical cancer as a result of chewing tobacco.

“It depends how and where you are consuming tobacco. There is a difference in the incidence of tobacco-related cancer between India and the western world. Those who place the tobacco mixture under the lip are more prone to cancer in that region. Those who also consume areca nuts are increasing their risk of two cancers, as areca nut itself is carcinogenic,” said Dr Chaturvedi.

Researchers said apart from the way tobacco is consumed, the ethnicity of the consumer is also a factor in determining the type of cancer he or she is prone to develop.

Unlike in western countries, smokeless tobacco use is far more common than smoking in India. “Unfortunately, there is nobody regulating the use of smokeless tobacco. It is easy to grow tobacco crop anywhere. It is sold loose and also not taxed. A person who stops consuming smokeless tobacco is at the risk of developing cancer for at least a decade after giving up the habit. This itself shows the impact of the habit,” said Dr Chaturvedi.

Source: Hindustan Times

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