How toothless laws help gutkha sellers | India News

It was in 2013 that Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa banned tobacco products including pan masala and chewable tobacco in the state, citing increasing cases of oral cancer. A decade later, conflicting laws on the permission for the sale of tobacco products, loopholes in the Acts and enormous support from consumers keep the illegal sale of banned tobacco products thriving in the state.Though the government renews the ban every year as per Food Safety and Standards Act of India (FSSAI) (the latest one was on May 23) it does not act as a deterrent to law breakers.Since FSSAI permits manufacturing of pan masala, the manufacturers make it in neighbouring Karnataka. Though nicotine is banned under FSSAI, they make separate packs of it, which is permitted under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA). The two are sold separately, and customers just mix the twoto get intoxicated. medium102310192A senior officer in the food safety department in Tamil Nadu says the combination of pan masala and nicotine constitutes gutka which is banned under FSSAI. However, pan masala is allowed under FSSAI and nicotine can be manufactured under COTPA.Though the prevalence is common for all the districts, between May and June 2021, the food safety department in Trichy seized 4,350kg of gutka from godowns and through vehicle checks. They sealed 101 shops and imposed a penalty of 23.38 lakh under 404 cases. Manufactured mainly in the districts of Karnataka bordering Tamil Nadu near Hosur, the products are snuck into Tamil Nadu through trucks ‘bypassing’ vehicle checks by the police and the commercial tax department. But after GST began being levied, the check posts of the commercial tax department have been withdrawn. “Gutka is also smuggled in passenger vehicles. The police can’t check every passenger vehicle,” says S Mariappan, designated officer (DO) of the food safety and drug administration department, Tuticorin.While FSSAI gives the department the authority to seize and send the samples for lab tests before implicating them, police have been vested with the power to arrest them. medium102310447R Ramesh Babu, another officer of the food safety and drug administration department in Trichy says better coordination between the police and food safety departments is needed to eradicate the banned gutka in Tamil Nadu.“The menace can be controlled if the police department joins us regularly during our raids,” says Ramesh Babu.Since the punishment is not severe, shopkeepers don’t mind the risks involved. “Those who are addicted cannot kick the habit. They don’t mind paying high prices for a packet of gutka. So, we make good profit,” says a vendor in Trichy city. A senior officer in the food safety department pointed out a lack of clarity in FSSAI. The Act which allows manufacturing pan masala with the permitted limits of betel nut and lime also says pan masala is injurious to health. “Despite stating it can cause harm, the act allows it to be sold. Pan masala ought to be banned by FSSAI,” says the officer.The same goes for chewable tobacco permitted under COTPA. Officials suggest the Centre removes chewable tobacco from COTPA and brings it under FSSAI as per an order of the Madurai Bench of Madras court in 2019. Right now, action can be taken under COTPA for selling tobacco products in public places and educational institutions and the Juvenile Justice Act for selling gutka and tobacco to minors.“We need a multi-state approach towards eradicating gutka in Tamil Nadu. Nicotine is made in states where there is no prohibition,” says Mariappan.A senior bureaucrat says the Tamil Nadu government can only intensify efforts to stop the smuggling of gutka into the state from Karnataka. “Since health is a state subject, every state has the right to take their own decisions. Other states cannot interfere into their policy decisions,” says the officer. “If pan masala is banned under FSSAI, the manufacturing will be stopped across India. ”Tamil Nadu principal secretary of health and family welfare Gagandeep Singh Bedi recently wrote to his counterparts in the neighbouring states including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in this connection. “We have conveyed that gutka, pan masala and chewable tobacco are banned in Tamil Nadu. We have asked other state governments to disseminate this information to traders, so they do not supply these products to Tamil Nadu,” says Bedi.