Tobacco use in all forms, whether smoking or chewing, is associated with severe COVID-19 casualties, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Indian Council of Medical Research, and now the chairman of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), and representatives from retailers’ associations have appealed to the Central Government to strengthen the tobacco control law to prevent the youth from taking up tobacco use.
The experts have urged the government to increase the legal age of sale of tobacco products to 21, to impose a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising and to promote and ban sale of single sticks of cigarettes/bidis, stating that it would go a long way in preventing children and youth from initiating tobacco use at an early age.
“It is scientifically established that if a person is kept away from tobacco till the age of 21 and above, there is a very high probability that he/she will remain tobacco-free for the rest of his life,” said Priyank Kanongoo, chairman, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
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Minimum age
He said several countries had increased the minimum age of sale of tobacco products to 21 and banned sale of single cigarettes to control their easy accessibility and affordability to youth.
“Increasing the minimum legal age for sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21 and banning the sale of loose/single stick of cigarettes by amending COTPA 2003 are crucial to protect youth from tobacco as it has the potential to reduce tobacco use initiation and progression to regular smoking,” he urged.
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Countries are increasingly recognising that almost all those who become long term tobacco users begin tobacco use while they are adolescents. Pre and post-implementation data show increasing the tobacco age to 21 will help to prevent young people from ever starting to smoke and to reduce the deaths, disease and health care costs caused by tobacco use.
At least 14 countries (Ethiopia, Guam, Honduras, Japan, Kuwait, Mongolia, Palau, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uganda, and the U.S.) have now increased the minimum age to 21 for buying tobacco products. At least 86 countries have banned the sale of single stick cigarettes to control their easy accessibility and affordability to youth.
“We are sensitising the retail shops not to sell tobacco products to children. There must be a complete ban on tobacco and its products in India which will bring about a major change. We urge the government to amend COTPA 2003 and increase the sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21 as it will protect our children and youth from falling prey to the menace,” said Sanjay Gupta, president, Uttar Pradesh Vyapar Mandal.
Appeal to sellers
Birendra Singh Raghav, general secretary and treasurer, Jaipur Vyapar Mandal, added that tobacco retailers were being sensitised to the COTPA 2003 provisions and motivated to not sell tobacco products to minors. “We support the government’s decision to strengthen this law to protect children and youth from tobacco initiation and addiction.”
According to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, released recently by Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, India has the second largest number (268 million) of tobacco users in the world and of these 13 lakh die every year from tobacco-related diseases. Ten lakh deaths are due to smoking, with over 2,00,000 due to second-hand smoke exposure, and over 35,000 are due to smokeless tobacco use. Nearly 27% of all cancers in India are due to tobacco usage. The total direct and indirect cost of diseases attributable to tobacco use was a staggering ₹1,82,000 crore, nearly 1.8% of India’s GDP.
Also nearly one-fifth of students aged 13-15 are using tobacco products in India. The nationwide survey of students revealed that 38% of cigarettes, 47% of bidi and 52% of smokeless tobacco users picked up the habit before their tenth birthday.