The gutkha ban concerns the health of society and should not depend on the politics in the state, according to health experts who welcomed the ban enforced by the state government.
“While the public, doctors and NGOs have welcomed the move, the fact that a few elected representatives are opposing the move and demanding rehabilitation of areca growers, who are at stake here, should not be diluted, politicised or projected as anti-farmer”, said Dr Upendra Bhojani of the Institute of Public Health.
“This is a golden opportunity for people to quit chewing tobacco”, said NIMHANS psychiatry and child de-addiction unit professor Prathima Murthy. According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey of 2009-10, the current number of smokeless tobacco users stands at 19.4 per cent of which 22.7 per cent are men and 16 per cent are women.