THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) director Dr Paul Sebastian, along with his counterparts in 17 other Regional Cancer Centres, has called for a total ban on smokeless tobacco products such as gutka and pan masala, which contribute in a huge way to causing oral cancer. While the country has the highest number of oral cancer patients in the world with nearly a lakh new cases being reported every year, studies have found that chewing tobacco and gutka caused almost 90 percent of the oral cancer.
Scientific evidence has also established that tobacco chewing causes cancer of mouth, oesophagus, larynx and pharynx, pancreas, stomach, kidney and lung.
''It is in this background that we, the directors of all 17 regional cancer centres, decided to join hands to fight the gutka menace. We have written letters to the Prime Minister, Opposition Leader, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and over 40 Parliament members, appealing for a ban on the sale of pan masalalike products in the country,'' said RCC director Dr Paul Sebastian.
Smokeless tobacco such as gutka and pan masala products with commercial names such as shambu, chaini khaini, ganesh, cool lip and so on have in its fold nearly a third of the Indian population addicted to it, including schoolchildren, says a report of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2010). The small and inexpensive pouches of pan masala are sold without restriction at every nook and corner of the country and are easily available to the youth and even small children. In fact, the health specialists have long argued that the tobacco industry had been targeting youth and children by selling tobacco products outside schools and colleges, distributing free samples and even getting film stars to endorse these products. All these preparations of smokeless tobacco have been proven to be harmful to life. The use of smokeless tobacco during pregnancy can cause still birth, low birth weight, premature delivery, anaemia of mother and several complications during delivery. Smokeless tobacco also contains nicotine, which is highly addictive. Apart from the tobacco component, these pouches have a mixture that is concoction of toxic substances containing even slaked lime and food additives.
Scientists have identified as many as 28 components in tobacco, which have been proved to cause cancer, majority of them belonging to the group of tobacco specific Nnitrosamines and Nnitrosoamino acids.
The GATS survey had found that more than a quarter of adults in India use smokeless tobacco and what is worse is that over sixty percent among the daily tobacco users consume tobacco within an hour of wakingup. ''We have raised serious concern over the growing gutka, pan masala menace in the country and have urged the Government of India to show some urgency in addressing the issue,'' said Dr Paul Sebastian.
It may be recalled that Opposition Leader Sushma Swaraj, in the recentlyconcluded Parliament session, raised the need for implementing effective tobacco control measures in the country.