11 CMs join campaign against tobacco

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has been joined by ten other chief ministers in the country in raising voice against the growing menace of chewing tobacco products like ‘gutka’ and ‘pan masala'. The 11 chief ministers include those of  Assam, Goa, Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.Prompted to action by victims of oral cancer, doctors and tobacco control advocates, on behalf of Voice of Tobacco Victims (VOTV) -  a national campaign to advocate against  tobacco -  the Kerala Government had announced a tax increase on tobacco. The Value Added Tax on chewing tobacco products was hiked from 12.5 per cent to 20 per cent. The Kerala Government has also decided to ban the sale of pan masala within a radius of 400 yards of educational institutions. The victims had urged the chief ministers to protect the people by stopping sale of chewable tobacco products near educational institutions, increasing taxation on all tobacco products, banning gutka, implementing stringent pictorial warnings on chewing tobacco products and putting an end to indirect advertising of chewing tobacco products.The VOTV is being supported in this initiative by numerous doctors and directors of the Regional Cancer Centres across the country. In March, directors of 17 Regional Cancer Centres in India had written letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ban gutka and other chewing tobacco products in the country. In their letters, all of them had urged the Union Government to show some urgency in tackling the cancer-causing substances.Scientific evidence has established that tobacco-chewing causes cancer of mouth, oesophagus (food pipe), larynx and pharynx (throat), pancreas, stomach, kidney and lung. It can also cause high blood pressure and other life-threatening cardiovascular conditions like myocardial ischemia, stroke etc. The use of smokeless tobacco during pregnancy can cause still birth, low birth weight, premature delivery, anaemia of mother and several complications during delivery.“Despite the Supreme Court order banning plastic gutka pouches, gutka, pan masala and other smokeless tobacco products are still widely sold in plastic pouches. The enforcement agencies need to take action against the violators,” said RCC director Dr Paul Sebastian.