The fourth national conference to discuss and highlight efforts to eradicate tobacco consumption and related diseases in the country was held here on Friday.
The three-day event organised by Salaam Bombay Foundation in collaboration with Tata Memorial Hospital, Action Council against Tobacco and Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health is aimed at bringing experts, industry representatives and institutions together to talk about the transformation which can be brought about with tobacco control.
“The tobacco industry generates a revenue of ₹17,000 crore every year, but 13.5 lakh people die due to its consumption. This conference is like a Kumbh Mela for curbing tobacco consumption,” Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi, Deputy Director, Center for Cancer Epidemiology, Tata Memorial Hospital said.
The objective of the inaugural session of the conference was informing participants about the practices, the latest research, and efforts towards tobacco control in India.
Pallavi Darade, Commissioner of Food and Drug Administration, Maharashtra, said that tobacco worth ₹176 crore has been seized since 2012, when it was completely banned in the State. “Also, Maharashtra was the first State to ban the sale of FMCG products and tobacco together in the same outlet in January 2018. The idea behind the ban is to prevent children who come to buy chocolates and other products, from being addicted to tobacco,” she said.
Dr. Chaturvedi said that Mumbai was the first city in the world to punish people who offer tobacco to children below 18 years of age. Anyone found guilty can get upto seven years of imprisonment.
The session also discussed possible solutions to prevent deaths due to tobacco consumption.
Dr. Swasti Charan, Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said there are already 313 dental colleges in the country which will soon have tobacco cessation centers under the National Oral Health Programme. “We are also going to launch ‘e-dant seva’ under which tobacco cessation services will be provided to people,” Dr. Charan said.
On checking tobacco circulation in Maharashtra, Ms. Darade said although the government ensured no production of tobacco in the State, the transportation of such products from other States needed to be controlled as well. “We have approached the Transport Commissioner to seize vehicles carrying tobacco and related products to export in the State and cancel the license of its drivers by taking them to the Regional Transport Office,” she said.
