Implement ban on gutka, pan masala: FSSAI -Governance Now

Implement ban on gutka, pan masala: FSSAI

Tobacco use is the foremost preventable cause of death and disease globally as well as in India,says activist

Geetanjali Minhas | October 13, 2017 | Mumbai

#supreme court #Pankaj Chaturvedi #nicotine #pan masala #gutka #ban #Tobacco #health ministry

Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has sought implementation of the ban on manufacture, sale and distribution of gutka and pan masala with tobacco and nicotine.

The Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) regulations prohibit the use of tobacco and nicotine as ingredients in any food product.

The apex court had directed the authorities concerned in the state/UT's for total compliance of the ban imposed by FSSAI regulations on the manufacturing and sale of gutka and pan masala with tobacco and/or nicotine.

The FSSAI order on October 9 also directs the secretaries, health department of all states and UT’s to file their affidavits within four weeks on the issue of total compliance on the ban imposed on manufacturing and sale of gutka and pan masala with tobacco and or nicotine.

The health ministry’s special leave petition says, “to circumvent the ban on the sale of gutka, the manufacturers are selling pan masala (without tobacco) with flavoured chewing tobacco in separate sachets. Often these sachets are sold together by the same vendors from the same premises so that consumers can buy the pan masala and flavoured chewing tobacco and mix them and consume the same. Hence instead of the earlier "ready to consume mixes", chewing tobacco companies are selling gutka in twin packs to be mixed as one.”

The states of Bihar, Karnataka, Mizoram, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh have already complied with the SC order.

‘“The FSSAI recent order is welcome move as it was seen in the past that only state governments/UT's were issuing necessary orders for banning manufacturing and sale of gutkha and pan masala with tobacco and/or nicotine,” says Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, head and neck surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital and an anti-tobacco activist.

“Tobacco use is the foremost preventable cause of death and disease globally as well as in India. The consequent burden of mortality and morbidity due to consumption of smokeless tobacco is very high in India. Tobacco causes almost 12 lakh deaths in a year in India. Available evidence suggests that India shares the maximum burden of oral cancer in the World,” he added.

The result of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016- 2017 reveals 29.6% men,12.8% women and 21.4% adults use smokeless tobacco. Due to initiative taken by the government like ban on certain forms of smokeless tobacco products like gutka and pan masala the number of tobacco users has reduced by about 81 lakh.

Comments

Other News

Modi inaugurates, lays foundation stone of Pune Metro projects

Prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for Pune Metro projects worth around ₹21,800 crore on Tuesday through video conferencing. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the PM extended warm Diwali greetings to the people of Pune and Maharashtra and remarked that f

Wired for good: Building sustainable cities with AI

The First Industrial Revolution in the 18th-19th centuries ushered in a paradigm shift in how cities were imagined. Fueled by railways, factories and grids, and obsessed with speed and scale, it was an ode to efficiency, which spurred unprecedented economic growth. Now, as the Fourth Industrial Revolutio

How social media is reshaping elections

Since Brazil’s return to direct presidential elections in 1985, no candidate who finished second in the first round of polling had ever won the presidency. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, now 81, has just done it. What explains the comeback, and what changed in Brazilian politics to make it possi

Cabinet approves Dearness Allowance, Dearness Relief

The union cabinet chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from 01.07.2026 representing an increase of 3% over the existing rates of 6

Cyclone Arnab strikes Andhra as warming oceans amplify storm risks

Cyclone Arnab made landfall along the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts in the early hours of Wednesday as a very severe cyclonic storm, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 125–135 kmph and gusts reaching 150 kmph. Its rapid intensification has raised concerns about how warmer oceans, global warmin

Counting matters but which ones?

The first instinct of public policy is to count. Its harder task is to count what counts. We have become remarkably good at measuring the reach of the welfare state vis-à-vis beneficiaries covered, rupees transferred, houses built, connections installed and services delivered. But some of the most