Tobacco litter a challenge to a clean India: Environmental experts

Even as the Clean India campaign is making waves with both standalone and coordinated efforts in Kerala as across the country, acclaimed environmental experts  have called for no-holds-barred implementation of the ban on public smoking as a means to keep our cities, towns and villages clean and litter-free.

They contend that callously discarded cigarette stubs found abundantly in public places in violation of the smoking ban poses a challenge to dream of a clean India besides bringing the need for stricter implementation of laws to the fore.

Prof MK Prasad, noted environmental expert and educationist said, “While there are public discourses on the health impacts of tobacco use, its effect on the environment have come up for scant discussion in Kerala and India. Developed countries have woken up to this fact and have undertaken steps to identify the enormity of the problem. According to one estimate, the overall littering rate for cigarette butts in America is 65 per cent.”

“The non-biodegradable nature of cigarette butts, a hazardous solid waste, makes it a challenging area to address. The butts also contain dangerous chemicals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead. Stricter implementation of laws on public smoking will not only improve public health but also restrict the environmental damage caused from cigarette use,” Prof Prasad added.

A paper published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health cites that an estimated 1.69 billion pounds of butts are littered worldwide a year.

Adv. Harish Vasudevan, environmental law expert said, “Studies point out that tobacco refuse is a major source of litter on the planet. Filtered cigarettes offered as an alternative to reduce the amounts of nicotine and tar consumed are a mainstay with smokers now. Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a plastic slow to degrade.”

“Presence of cigarette stubs in public places provides cues for smoking. This major environmental and public health issue can be effectively controlled by implementing laws that prohibit smoking in public places. If sufficient multi-stakeholder efforts are not taken on time, it can pose a challenge to having a clean India,” Adv. Vasudevan added.

Indian tobacco control law COTPA, 2003 vide Section 4 prohibits smoking in all public places including public offices, educational institutions, public conveyances, restaurants, hotels, health institutions and all workplaces.

Highlighting how in-flight smoking has been effectively prohibited, Dr CN Mohanan, Retd., Scientist and Head, Environmental Sciences Division, Centre for Earth Science Studies here said that education, awareness generation and enforcement all have equal roles to play while addressing the cigarette litter issue.

“Policy backing, repetitive communication, and punishment for violators have made it possible to curb smoking during air travel. Similar measures will have to be taken to tackle cigarette littering in public places by enforcing laws against public smoking. Having a clean India is a collective dream; cigarette butt littering is something we cannot afford to ignore,” Dr Mohanan noted.

The Centre-State Rs 62,000 crore Clean India campaign launched by the Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi aims to accomplish the vision of a ‘Clean India’ by October 2, 2019. Among others, the campaign envisages cent per cent collection and scientific processing, disposal, reuse and recycling of solid waste.

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Koolimadu: India's first tobacco free area

Even as dedicated efforts are on to make three districts of Kerala, viz., Trivandrum, Ernakulam and Kozhikode models in tobacco control by following the provisions laid out in Indian tobacco  control law, COTPA, 2003, here's an engaging story of Koolimadu in Kozhikode.

Reproducing the story carried by the India Today on 15 December 1996 that recounts how locals of Koolimadu turned their village into India's first tobacco free area.

While acknowledging that the current status of Koolimadu with regard to tobacco control has not been checked, the story is being carried here for the sheer energy it provides to Kerala's tobacco control efforts.

Weeding out tobacco

Inspired locals turn their village into India's first tobacco-free area

For most smokers, the statutory warning on cigarette packs means only puff and nonsense. But the 2,200 villagers of Koolimadu, 25 km from Kozhikode town, have taken it very seriously.

With the Kozhikode district administration declaring it tobacco-free, smoking has not just been banned in this tiny hamlet, you run the risk of being excommunicated for a day if you flout the ban.

At village gatherings now, tendrils of smoke curl up only from tea glasses. Wizened women no longer chew away at pukayila (tobacco leaves). And the village shops no longer stock the cigarettes or beedis that used to make them richer by about Rs.2,000 every day.

It was a death that sparked the campaign. In 1994, chain smoker Ahmed Kutty, 58, a regular at the popular village reading room, Akshara, died of cancer. And the founders of the reading room, E.A. Moideen and Kader, all smokers in arms, who learnt how cancer is linked to heavy smoking, decided to launch an anti-smoking movement in the village.

Says Kader, a smoker for 30 years: "Kutty's death came as a shock. His sudden demise, caused by smoking, was enough of a deterrent."

It wasn't easy. Die-hard smokers were initially not interested in a fresh lease of life just because it came smoke-free. And a lot of women - like Kader's compulsively pukayila-chewing mother, Ameena - felt they would much rather die than kick their addiction.

But the village elders, whose diktat runs in the 250-odd houses here, ensured that the campaign was a success. Explains Moideen: "We printed no-tobacco pledge cards and went to every house in the village and asked everyone to sign or put their thumb impression on them." Persuasion finally worked. As did Kutty's death.

The promise of a long, healthy life rather than a rasping early death was not enough to wean away smokers from their addiction for good. The supply had to be cut off at source. The campaigners approached the two village stores which sold about 300 packs of cigarettes and beedis every day and asked them not to replenish their stocks.

Says a shop owner, M. Khalil: "They bought whatever was there in the shop for Rs.300 and made a public bonfire. We thought we lost some good business but later realised that a healthy, smoke-free life is much more rewarding in the long run."

Next, the campaigners got in touch with the Kozhikode branch of the Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) - established by the Centre in November 1972, to mobilise rural youth for development work in villages - for guidelines on how to systematically eradicate tobacco from the villages.

Placards, festoons and banners ("Stop smoking, save family" and "Koolimadu is tobacco-free zone"), were put up. Banners at the village bus stop entreated travellers not to smoke while they were in the village.

Koolimadu residents who can't help lighting up risk being excommunicated for a day. But this punishment has not had to be enforced yet. 

The inveterate smoker, of course, has only to walk about a kilometre to either Nairkuzhi village in the north, Mavoor village in the south or the banks of the river Chaliyar in the south and east to enjoy a smoke.

This also means that the anti-tobacco campaign has not caught on in any of the other villages. Neither does the district administration have any plans to mobilise such campaigns elsewhere in the area.

But inside Koolimadu, smoking remains strictly a no-no. Says local civil engineer K. Abdullah, 29: "We have groups of youth to monitor the ban." Fortunately, according to Kozhikode NYK coordinator M. Anil Kumar, the punishment of being excommunicated for a day for defying the ban has not had to be enforced as yet.

Ultimately, the effort to banish tobacco may turn out to be the healthiest investment Koolimadu residents have made till now.

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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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