Ban on sale of single cigarettes
Context
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare in its latest report about cancer management, prevention and diagnosis recommended that the government institute a ban on the sale of single sticks of cigarettes. It also recommended that the government increase taxes on all tobacco products and utilise the acquired revenue for cancer prevention and awareness.
Why is a Ban Needed?
Cancerous
- The majority of cancer cases in the nation are oral cancer incidences.
- Nearly 50% of all cancers, sometimes known as tobacco-related cancers, are caused by tobacco use.
The allure of single sticks is greater:
- Buying a single stick of cigarettes is less expensive than buying a whole pack.
- A ban on single-stick sales will force a potential customer to purchase the complete pack, which may not be very cost-effective, limiting the opportunity for experimentation and regular consumption.
- Additionally, a potential ban would require the consumer to carry the packet with them.
Several reports raise concerns about usage:
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no safe level of tobacco exposure and all tobacco products are dangerous.
- Additionally, it claims that the most typical form of tobacco use worldwide is smoking cigarettes.
- In June 2020, the medical journal Lancet reported that by 2030, it is expected that 7 million of the annual fatalities from smoking will occur in low- and middle-income nations.
Strong Addiction:
- According to the WHO, the highly addictive nature of nicotine in tobacco products means that only 4% of users who try to stop using tobacco will be successful.
Key Recommendations
- Keeping Tobacco Sales Under Control:
- As stated in the National Health Policy (2017), the government must take effective steps to limit the sale of tobacco products in order to achieve a relative reduction in current tobacco usage of 30% by 2025.
- In order to do this, it suggests that the government outlaw the selling of single cigarettes and impose severe penalties and fines on offenders.
- Abolition of Smoking Areas
- The government should promote a smoke-free environment in workplaces and outlaw all designated smoking areas in hotels, restaurants, and airports.
- Revive tax increases:
- Since tobacco goods are most affordable in India, there should be consideration given to raising taxes on them.
- Cancer prevention and awareness can be funded with the additional tax revenue.
- Gutka prohibition:
- Sought to ban their direct and indirect advertising as well as the use of gutka and pan masala.
- This is based on the finding that chewing tobacco, which is heavily advertised as a mouth freshener and accounts for more than 80% of tobacco consumption in India.
How Impactful a Ban Can Be?
- Pan-Indian Ban Not Viable:
- A nationwide ban on the selling of loose cigarettes is impractical. Due to the scale of the small shops and stalls that sell cigarettes and other tobacco goods, it is completely impractical.
- Routes for illegal cigarettes could be established:
- Only 8% of the total tobacco is used to make cigarettes that are allowed. The remaining is consumed through 29 tax evasion-prone products, including bidis, chewing tobacco, khaini, and illicit cigarettes.
- In India, there are expected to be 26.8 billion sticks of illegal cigarettes sold in 2021, according to Euromonitor International. In actuality, India is the world’s fourth-largest market for illegal cigarettes.
- Banning something just encourages people to obtain it illegally. Additionally, some of the cigarettes sold on the black market can even be of lower quality, which would be worse for a person’s health.
- Absence of vendor Licensing Regime:
- Although the proposed action may decrease sales and consumption, it will have little impact if a vendor licencing system is not implemented.
- A vendor licencing programme must be taken into consideration by the government.
- Because cigarettes would not be available everywhere, the potential for recurrence of the consumption would be decreased.
Tobacco Control Measures in India
- International Accord:
- The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s tobacco control provisions are adopted and carried out by governments (WHO FCTC).
- It is the first international agreement to be drafted under WHO supervision.
- The World Health Assembly approved it on May 21, 2003, and it became effective on February 27, 2005.
- Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003:
- Mostly confined to mandatory warnings—”Cigarette Smoking is Injurious to Health”—must be printed on cigarette packs and advertisements—replaced the Cigarettes Act of 1975. It excluded things other than cigarettes.
- Cigars, bidis, cheroot, pipe tobacco, hookahs, chewing tobacco, pan masala, and gutka were also covered by the 2003 Act.
- National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP), 2008:
- Objective: To control tobacco use and minimize tobacco consumption related deaths.
- Activities: Information, education, and communication (IEC) initiatives, tobacco control laws, reporting, surveillance, and capacity building, as well as tobacco cessation.
- Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2020:
- The required health warning must take up at least 85% of the package’s main display area, according to the rule.
- Out of this, 60% will cover graphic health warnings and 25% will cover text-based warnings.
- mCessation Program
- It is a programme that uses mobile technology to help people quit smoking.
- As a part of the government’s Digital India plan, India introduced mCessation via text messages in 2016.
- It uses two-way messaging to communicate between programme specialists offering dynamic support and the person trying to quit smoking.
- The Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, which the Indian government promulgated, has restrictions that forbid the use of nicotine or tobacco as additives in food items.
- Every year, May 31 is commemorated as “World No Tobacco Day” to raise awareness of the devastating consequences of tobacco use.
Way forward
- The implementation of COTPA needs to be strengthened, there is a need for a comprehensive tobacco control policy, and there is a need for alternatives for those working in the tobacco industry’s production, processing, and cultivation.
- As levels of knowledge and awareness rose, there was a decline in the percentage of people purchasing loose cigarettes. Public awareness should be enhanced through campaigns, in-school instructional initiatives, and strong, graphic health warnings.