After the Presidential assent to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Amendment Bill prohibiting the opening and running of hookah bars in Rajasthan, voluntary groups working for tobacco control here have called for a ban on surrogate advertising of tobacco products. The tobacco industry is looking for new consumers and is trying the “catch them young” tactics, said the groups.
Bar on Hookah bars
The Amendment Bill, passed by the State Assembly on August 2, 2019, brought hookah bars within the ambit of the Act of 2003 regulating the trade, production and supply of tobacco products. Assembly Speaker C.P. Joshi informed the House on Friday that the President had assented to the Bill.
The State government had also imposed a ban on e-cigarettes and prohibited the sale of ‘paan masala’ containing nicotine, magnesium carbonate and mineral oil last year. The tobacco control programmes launched in the State were included among the best initiatives in the country, for which a presentation was made at a national summit in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in November last year.
“single largest barrier”
Voluntary groups which have undertaken a sustained campaign for tobacco control for the last four years said on Monday that surrogate advertising, with the endorsement by film actors and celebrities, was indirectly promoting cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol under the guise of other products.
The tobacco industry was the “single largest barrier” to effective implementation of tobacco control policies, according to health activists.
Jayesh Joshi, secretary of Banswara-based Vaagdhara group, said one of the techniques of surrogate advertising was the display of hoardings and billboards with the pictures of mouth fresheners, ‘elaichi’ and paan masala at prominent places in the cities. This type of indirect advertising was a ploy to deceive the law enforcement authorities, he said.
The groups made a reference to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to which India is a party, laying down that there should not be any interference and influence of the tobacco industry on public health policies of the State. Mr. Joshi said the tobacco industry should be held responsible for the tobacco menace in Rajasthan, where a large number of people had died of mouth cancer.
Indian Asthma Care Society secretary Dharamveer Katewa said the State government should come out of the shadows of tobacco industry and implement the laws in accordance with the WHO convention.
The voluntary groups once again called for enforcement of a vendor licensing mechanism to control and regulate the sale of tobacco products.
Licensing policy
The State government had authorised municipal bodies in 2018 to regulate the sale of tobacco products. Since the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2016-17 has found 24.7 % of adults in Rajasthan as tobacco users, the licensing policy’s formulation will save healthcare costs, increase labour productivity and reduce human suffering.
