Patna: The state government in Bihar headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar has moved ahead to impose a blanket ban on tobacco consumption two years after it imposed total prohibition. The move could significantly bring down the soaring rate of oral cancer in the state, which has turned alarming in recent years.
Authorities said the government had shot off a letter to the federal government, urging the latter to notify tobacco as a food product. Once it is notified as a food product by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India, the government will have the power to ban it on health grounds, authorities added.
“The state government has already decided to ban tobacco but, to enforce this decision, it wants the centre to notify tobacco as food product. Once it is done, tobacco consumption will be banned,” Bihar health secretary Sanjay Kumar told the media today. He added the state government had already sent a letter to the federal government.
According to him, tobacco has been the main cause of oral cancer yet it remains very high in demand in the state. “Every fifth person in Bihar has been consuming tobacco and that is very worrying now,” health secretary said adding.
He also wondered over the way the number of people chewing raw tobacco has alarmingly increased although tobacco consumption decreased from 53 per cent to 26 per cent in past seven years.
According to a study conducted by Patna-based Mahavir Cancer Institute, 50,000 have been dying from cancer every year in Bihar while 80,000 new cancer patients come up every year. Of the total patients admitting to the Institute, 90 per cent of them are related to oral cancer, report says.
Health experts say the cancer cases will come down by 40 per cent in Bihar if tobacco is completely banned. “Tobacco has 250 cancer-causing agents,” experts say.
The move to ban tobacco comes some 26 months after the then Grand Alliance government enforced total ban on alcohol consumption in the state at the cost of state exchequer. Reports say the alcohol ban has been causing a loss of around Rs40 billion every year.
