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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Tamil Nadu bans gutka, pan masala -R Satyanarayana

Tamil Nadu bans gutka, pan masala -R Satyanarayana

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published Published on May 9, 2013   modified Modified on May 9, 2013
-The Times of India


CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has decided to ban the production, stocking, distribution and sale of tobacco products such as gutka and pan masala in the state. The decision came in the backdrop of the Supreme Court's remarks in a case recently, seeking to know the action taken by state governments in curbing the use of tobacco and its products. The order will be passed in a week, said official sources.

Tamil Nadu last banned tobacco products in 2001 under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra also issued similar notifications then. However, the tobacco industry went to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the Centre alone had the powers to issue such notifications.

However, since the implementation of the Food Safety and Standards of India Act, 2006, and notification of its rules and regulations in August 2011, it is now possible to implement such a ban within the provisions of the new law. A senior health department official said that as per the act, tobacco and nicotine are injurious to health and should not be used in food products.

Madhya Pradesh was the first to implement the ban since the new law came into effect and subsequently Kerala, Mizoram, Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Delhi also banned gutka and pan masala.

Chief minister J Jayalalithaa told the sate assembly on Wednesday that her government had constituted a separate food safety and drug administration department after the Centre notified the act. "In order to prevent various cancers cased by tobacco, the government has decided to ban such products," she said. Betel nuts and pan masala without tobacco will not come under the ban.

The 'Global Adult Tobacco Survey India' released by the Union ministry of health and family welfare shows that about 16.2% of Tamil Nadu's population uses tobacco in one form or the other. In Chennai alone, the incidence of mouth cancer has gone up by 20% in the last two decades, say health professionals.

However, a ban will prove useless if there is no effective crackdown. Following the 2001 ban, raids on traders didn't prevent sale of the products as the business just went underground. Also, shortage of field level staff made implementation difficult.

According to sources, officials of the state food safety wing and the tobacco control cell will implement the ban. Food safety wing commissioner Kumar Jayant said the government will ensure that the ban is implemented strictly.

(With inputs from Ekatha Ann John)


The Times of India, 9 May, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tamil-Nadu-bans-gutka-pan-masala/articleshow/19960092.cms


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