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Regulating tobacco use

In the four centuries since the Portuguese introduced tobacco to India, the weed has taken alarmingly firm root. The country, which is now the second largest producer of tobacco, has — according to World Health Organisation estimates — about 240 million tobacco users, nearly one-third of world total of 800 million. Worse, at a time while it has been registering a steady decline in the west, smoking and other forms of tobacco use are on the rise in India. Agains t such a background, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss’ proposal to set up a Central Tobacco Regulatory Authority within the next few months deserves to be welcomed. Going by the available information, one of the main functions of the Authority would be to monitor the implementation of the existing laws on tobacco use. The eighth country in the world to ratify the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), India has passed a comprehensive legislation to regulate tobacco use in keeping with the requirements of the global treaty. Known informally as the Tobacco Control Act (TCA), the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, which came into force in mid-2003, imposes curbs on advertising tobacco products, prescribes penalties for smoking in public places, and prohibits sale of tobacco products near educational institutions and to minors.

The restriction on smoking in public places was the first move to curb what is increasingly being recognised as a major health issue: second-hand smoke. The term “public places”, which has been construed strictly, covers restaurants, public offices, court buildings, educational institutions, stadiums, railway stations, bus stops and other such places visited by the public. It is no secret that this restriction is observed more in the breach. Rather than stop with monitoring the implementation of those provisions in the TCA to ensure a smoke-free public environment, it would be a good idea if the proposed Authority were vested with powers to ensure their effective enforcement. It would be even more worthwhile if such an Authority could emerge as an important coordinating mechanism between the Central and State levels, spearhead a campaign about the danger of tobacco use, publicise the provisions of the TCA, and chalk out strategies for tobacco farmers to switch to other crops. It is widely agreed that curbing tobacco use requires a broad and multi-sectoral approach; a body on the lines of the proposed Authority could become a nodal point for the formulation and implementation of such a strategy.

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