Tobacco-induced cancer on the rise

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 30 percent of the cancer patients admitted to the Regional Cancer Centre in the last five years, were afflicted with the disease because of the indiscriminate use of pan masala. This was revealed by the RCC, in answers to the queries raised by PK Raju, a member of the Hospital Development Society of the SAT Hospital through Right to Information Act.
Read more at 
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/thiruvananthapuram/tobacco-induced-cancer-on-the-rise/306467.html

Tobacco causing 50 per cent neck cancer: Study

Tobacco causing 50 per cent neck cancer: Study

Posters for Anti Tobacco drives

Toll free number for violation of tobacco use and advertisements

Very Important message
The Government of India has launched a helpline to report violations of tobacco use under the law. It is 1800110456 and is Toll free national.

Kicking the habit

Twenty-five years ago, Theresa Knox gave up smoking for good. A smoker for 12 years, she quit cold turkey, as she said nicotine replacement medication like patches or lozenges were not common at the time. Now, Knox works as the tobacco prevention coordinator for Grand Forks Public Health Department, helping patients who smoke or chew learn about their addiction.
Cold turkey was her only option. 
Read more

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/206203/group/homepage/

Tobacco warning labels to appear on interior and exterior of package

Health Canada released Friday a new set of bigger and more graphic health warnings for cigarette packages that will require tobacco companies to overhaul both the inside and outside of packs. Twelve new images to cover 75 per cent of the outside panel of cigarette packages were unveiled alongside eight... FULL ARTICLE AT Leader Post Online

Deadline for ban on gutkha in plastic sachet stays

New Delhi, Feb 17 : In a setback to chewing tobacco manufacturers, the Supreme Court Thursday declined to extend the March 1 deadline banning the marketing of tobacco products in plastic sachets.

An apex court bench of Justices G.S Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly, however, said the central government's rules prohibiting the plastic packaging, which was to come into force with immediate effect, will now be kept on hold till March 1.

The government had notified the said rules Feb 4 this year. However, the court by its Dec 7, 2010 order had said the ban of plastic sachets will come into force from March 1, 2011.

The apex court also issued notice to the government and other parties, including NGOs seeking a ban on a petition by the chewing tobacco manufactures challenging the rules prohibiting the use of plastic sachets for packaging chewing tobacco, or gutkha.

The matter will come up for hearing April 13.

A study carried by National Institute of Public Health on the directions of the court revealed that 86 percent of the world's oral cancer occur in India and 90 percent of those cancers are passed due to chewing tobacco.

In another shocking revelation, it said 24 percent of school going children were already addicted to chewing tobacco.

--IANS

Supreme Court has banned the sale of tobacco products in plastic pouches

India’s Supreme Court has banned the sale of tobacco products in plastic pouches – despite angry protests from manufacturers. The move affects the packaging of several types of chewing tobacco and comes amid growing concerns about the impact of cigarettes smoking on public health.
Different types of chewing tobacco – including gutkha and paan – are extremely popular in India.

India’s Top Court Bans Sale of Tobacco Products in India

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- India’s Supreme Court banned the sale
of tobacco products in plastic wrappers from March 1, citing
harm to public health and environmental damage from improper
disposal of the packets.
    The two-judge bench headed by Justice G.S. Singhvi also
directed the government to submit a report in eight weeks after
studying the harmful effects of gutka, a mixture of betel nuts,
tobacco and proprietary additives. The decision also applies to
pan masala, a non-tobacco product that has the same appearance,
taste and packaging.
    The court’s order may help discourage the use of gutka by
making it more expensive as manufacturers will be forced to seek
alternative ways of packaging, said Kaustav Ray, analyst at the
Hyderabad, India-based unit of Datamonitor Plc. The gukta is
mostly sold in the country in plastic packets and costs as
little as one rupee (2 cents) a sachet.
    Sales of chewing tobacco, valued at 210.3 billion rupees
($4.7 billion) in 2004, may double in India by 2014, according
to Datamonitor.
    Scientific studies have found that both gutka and pan
masala contain tumor-causing agents, said Pankaj Chaturvedi, a
surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital, Asia’s largest cancer
treatment center. The products contribute to making India the
“mouth cancer capital” of the world, he said.
    “There is already so much evidence showing that a number
of cancers are caused by these products,” Chaturvedi said in an
interview today. “For the environment, the plastic is bad. But
for the individual, the immediate danger comes from the
tobacco.”
    The Supreme Court’s interim order came after petitioners
challenged a 2007 decision by the Rajasthan High Court which
banned the use of plastics for making gutka packets. The next
date for the hearing is March 9.

SC bans sale of gutkha in plastic pouches from March

Dec. 7 (PTI) -- The Supreme Court today ordered a ban on
the sale of tobacco products like gutkha and pan masala in
plastic pouches from March 2011, while asking the government to
conduct a survey on the ill effects of these products within
eight weeks.
    A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly also asked
the manufacturers to explore and decide by March next year on
the alternative material for packaging them.
    The bench issued the directions while brushing aside the
pleas of some of the gutkha manufacturers who feared that such a
direction could lead to closure of thousands of gutkha and pan
masala manufacturing units.
    "Let it come," the bench quipped when counsel for one of
the manufacturers claimed that the whole industry would come to
a standstill.
    Cigarettes, which are generally sold in paper packs, are
out of the ambit of this ban.
    While asking the government to conduct a survey on the ill
effects of these tobacco products, the bench also asked it to
examine the effects of packaging these products in plastics
pouches over human health.
    The bench recorded an undertaking from Solicitor General
Gopal Subramanium that the government would get the required
survey done by the National Institute of Public Health on the
harmful effects of gutkha, pan masala and other tobacco products
and also the adverse effects, if any, of the plastic pouches
used for packaging the material.
    The bench also directed the Centre to finalise and enforce
withing eight weeks the Plastic Management and Disposal Rules
2009.
    It rued that despite the rules having been framed in 2009,
the authorities are yet to enforce them.
    The bench passed the direction while adjudicating a
petition by a civil society, which has approached the apex court
challenging the alleged unbridled sale of gutkha and pan masala
material in the country, seriously impinging upon public health.