Punjab bans all tobacco products

Besides, any other food product containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredient, by whatsoever name available in the market, has also been banned. The State Government on Monday banned the sale, storage, manufacture and distribution of tobacco product — gutkha, pan masala etc in the State from the date of issuance of notification in this regard.

Already, the State Government has banned the sale and consumption of gutkha and pan masala in four districts, namely, Ropar, Mohali, Amritsar and Mansa. And the tag of 'tobacco free' will now not be restricted to the districts only as the entire state will now become 'tobacco-free State'. With this, Punjab is set to become the fifth State in the country to impose a ban on the sale of gutkha and pan masala. The States of Maharashtra, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have already achieved the tag of 'tobacco-free States'.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had cleared the file on Monday morning approving the proposal of the State Health and Family Welfare department for banning gutkha and pan masala in the larger interest of public health. The Health department had proposed that tobacco products be banned across State as the chewing of gutkha, pan masala and other tobacco products was a potent health hazard. It was also responsible for deadly disease of cancer especially of the mouth and throat.

The ban was imposed following formulation of a policy on banning gutkha in consultation with the state cancer control. Also, the doctors of the School of Public Health and Department of Community Medicine of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh are assisting the government in overcoming the hurdles that could come in the way of enforcing the ban. As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, 2009-2010, 12 per cent people in the state consume tobacco and 6.5 per cent adults chew tobacco products.