CHENNAI:The Health and Food Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu government has extended the ban on manufacture, storage or sale of gutkha and pan masala for one more year. The ban also applies to all food products containing tobacco or nicotine. The State government issued an extraordinary notification in this regard on May 23 as the earlier ban order came to an end on that date.
The ban is in conformity with the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011 made by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India which mandates that tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food product, as they are injurious to health.
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, on May 8, 2013, announced in the State Assembly that the government headed by her has decided to ban the production, stocking, distribution and sale of tobacco products to prevent different kinds of cancer. Following this, for the past two years, the ban has been extended every year.
The previous AIADMK government headed by Jayalalithaa had banned the sale of gutka and pan masala on November 19, 2011 for a period of five years under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. However, the Supreme Court, while hearing the case relating to this ban on August 2, 2004 had cancelled the notification issued by the Tamil Nadu government and some other States. The SC had held that only the Central government had the power to ban such goods.
Later, the Central government had enacted the Food Safety and Standards Act in 2006 and the legislation came into force from August 5, 2011 across the country. To implement this Act, the Tamil Nadu government too had created the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department.