Tobacco products should be sold only at authorised shops: Experts

NT Correspondent

For petty shops, selling tobacco products may not be easy in future, and they will be available only at authorized shops. The representatives from Consortium for Tobacco Free Karnataka (CFTFK), Indian Medical Association (IMA), Karnataka and Associated Management of Private Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) urged the government of Karnataka to introduce vendor licensing to prevent children from tobacco addiction.

Pointing out that Karnataka was the first state in India to initiate the process of introducing vendor licensing in the year 2013 for the sale of tobacco products, Dr Ramesh Bilimagga, President of CFTFK said that it has not become a reality still.

“The draft notification was issued by the government on December 8, 2020 inviting objections or suggestions within 30 days from the public. Thousands of letters were received by the government in favour and against the notification. After careful consideration of all these letters, the government weighed upon the importance of vendor licensing and how this will protect the children and youth from being initiated to tobacco and addiction. However, more than a year has passed and the government is yet to come out with the final notification,” said Ramesh Bilimagga.

He said the Karnataka government should immediately pass vendor licensing and make way for building a tobacco-free generation. “If vendor licensing comes into the act, children below the age of 18 years will not be able to access tobacco products easily. When they attain the legal age, they would have developed rational thinking to avoid things that are not good for their health,” Ramesh further added.

According to reports, more than 14.6 percent of youth (13-15 years of age) use some form of tobacco in India as per Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS).

Dr S.M. Prasad, Secretary of Indian Medical Association-Karnataka said that children are the main target of the tobacco industry. “They resort to cheap tactics like celebrity endorsements, attractive displays of tobacco products in shops. Due to the addictive nature of nicotine and other poisonous substances that a cigarette contains, children fail to give up the habit even if they wish to. We see many tobacco addicts who initiated tobacco use during their teenage years and are succumbing to many health problems associated with tobacco use. Indian Medical Association urges the Karnataka government to pass vendor licensing at the earliest,” he said.

Shashi Kumar, General Secretary of KAMS said that strict action must be taken against vendors who are selling ‘loose’ cigarettes and bidis to children. “However, in the present setup, vendors especially around education institutions are breaking the rules and are getting away. If the sale of tobacco could be streamlined through vendor licensing, vendors for the fear of losing the license will strictly adhere to the law.”

Vendor licensing has been implemented in states like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand.

Sharing her opinion on the matter, Usha Mohan, a parent whose son is in 8th standard, said that the rule of ‘sale and advertisement of tobacco or related products are banned within 100 metres of educational institutes’ is not being properly executed.

“Some 20metres from my son’s school there is a shop selling cigarettes. They bribe the police and are free to sell. Smoking has become a thing to show-off nowadays. The easy availability of cigarettes without any restriction is spoiling the youth now, once they get addicted, it is not easy for them to stop.

Even girls are doing it, and they don’t understand the health effects because they are young but they will suffer in future. It will be good if vendor licensing comes into action and I feel the 100 metres rule should be changed to 500 metres. Strict action must be taken against those who violate the rule,” she said.