Mumbai: In an effort to effectively ban tobacco products “gutka” and “paan masala” across the state, the Maharashtra government will go a step further by filing a caveat in the Bombay High Court to ensure manufacturers do not file any petition challenging its decision.
The government’s struggle to ban these harmful tobacco products in the past failed since its decision was challenged in the court but this time it wants to make this a foolproof ban.
Manohar Naik, minister of food and drugs, in a statement to the legislative assembly on Thursday, said that any food product containing nicotine can be banned under the Food Safety and Regulation (Prohibition) Act 2011 which is already in force in the state. Though the Act allows these products to be banned for a year, he said that the ban can be extended every year before it lapses. The ban will come into effect from the day the notification is issued by the government.
Maharashtra will be the first state to ban both gutka and paan masala since Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Kerala have banned only gutka.
Initially the government will give some time for existing stocks to be finished after which the ban will be implemented. Though the government will suffer a revenue loss of Rs1billion (Dh66 million) per year, it is determined to put a stop on the production, sale, distribution and storage of these tobacco products because of the increasing incidence of serious health problems — most importantly throat and mouth cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organisation, has classified smokeless tobacco — that is gutka, paan masala and other such products — as confirmed cancer causing substances. Authorities are concerned that even school children are becoming addicted to these easily available and cheap products that unfortunately have dismal quit rates.
Tests conducted by the Food and Drug Administration have shown 98 per cent of the 1,173 samples of gutka and paan masala contain magnesium carbonate, a carcinogen.
