Ban on chewing tobacco sought as State fights cancer

 A ban on chewing tobacco is the need of the hour, Dr U S Vishal Rao, member of the State government’s High Power Committee on Tobacco Control, has said ahead of the World No Tobacco Day which falls on Sunday.

A few months ago, the Central government had written to Chief Minister Siddaramiah, suggesting a ban on chewing tobacco. But Karnataka is yet to take any step in this regard.
According to Dr Rao, more and more people in the age group of 20-30 are now walking into clinics with tobacco-related cancers. “It’s one of the key health problems, especially in rural Bengaluru,” he said. Almost 28 per cent of the population in Karnataka consumes tobacco; 20 per cent among them chew tobacco, he added.

Advocating a ban on chewing tobacco, Dr Rao said that the government should not restrict itself to offering various health schemes to treat tobacco-related disease. “By offering various health schemes, one could only subsidise death. But having strict preventive measures could save lives,” he opined. The government of Karnataka is estimated to spend Rs 1,000 crore on treatment of tobacco-related diseases.

Meanwhile, the ban on gutkha across Karnataka is doing little to deter consumers who have the option of mixing tobacco with pan masala. This way, they easily get gutkha.

As the use of tobacco increases in the State, so do the cases of oral cancer. As many as 45, 445 cases of oral cancer are reported every year in the State. Besides, at least one lakh cases of head and neck cancer are reported among men alone. At least 50 per cent cases of cancer among males are tobacco-related.

Just about 15 per cent of them who consume tobacco take it in the form of cigarettes and beedi while the rest chew tobacco, according to Dr Ramesh C, Head, Department of Epidemiology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology.

Instances of oral, head and neck cancer are rising among women too, the doctor said. “Nearly 20 per cent of cancer in females can be attributed to oral consumption of tobacco,” he added.

According to him, data from across Karnataka shows that over the last 30 years, there has been an increase in tobacco-related cancer. “We notice lip and tongue cancer among men and cheek cancer among women,” he said.

WHO for curbing illicit trade of tobacco

The theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day is ‘Stop illicit trade of tobacco products’. In a message, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region, has urged all member states to speed up the process of ratifying or acceding to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.