Mumbai : The State government has extended ban on all forms of manufactured chewing tobacco and flavoured arecanut (pan masala without tobacco and gutkha) for the fourth year in a row. Further, the government has also included sale, purchase and storage of manufactured chewable tobacco (mawa and kharra) in the ban.
The ban notification states that gutkha; pan masala, supari and tobacco products are detrimental to health causing cardiac arrest, oral cancer, stomach cancer, and affect fertility and cause respiratory ailments among other diseases.
In 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) had classified areca or betel nut as carcinogenic to humans even without the addition of tobacco to it. Shedding more light on the issue, Dr Pankaj Chaturvedhi, Oncologist at Tata Memorial Centre said, “This notification has got additional weight. It has banned even kharra and mawa that is a typical locally made form of chewing tobacco which is highly prevalent in Vidharbha region. Extension of ban on kharra will deter local shopkeepers to sale these deadly tobacco products.”
