With kids as young as 10 years becoming addicted to tobacco, elected representatives in ensuing Parliament should ensure early passage of the amendments to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act or COTPA Act to save the youth and next generation, said Priyank Kanoongo, Chairman of the National Commission of Protection of Child’s Rights on the Children’s Right Day (NCPCR) on Saturday.
“It is hoped that the proposed COTPA Amendments will not only be passed by the MPs in full majority at the earliest but also discussed threadbare in Parliament so that a movement against tobacco is created across the country,” Kanoongo said.
He also advised the Member of Parliament (MPs) to hold interaction with the stakeholders in their constituencies on the issue. Also, State Governments should hold review meetings with police from time to time to ensure that the law is implemented earnestly, he said.
The amendments, proposes Increase in legal age for sale of tobacco products to 21 years, comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising and promotion and ban on sale of single sticks of cigarettes/bidis.
Kanoongo said that, once the COTPA Amendments are passed, it will be at par with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act which has stringent provisions, ensuring basic rights of children. It is hoped that the Government might introduce the COTPA Amendments Bill in this session of
Parliament.”
BJP youth leader from Maharashtra, Shweta Shalini asserted that noose must be tightened around tobacco companies to end the conspiracies targeting these youth. She shared data of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) at a webinar titled “How Stronger Tobacco Law Can Save Our Next Generation” organised by the Speakin, an advocacy platform, on the occasion of the Children’s Right Day.
The survey says that 38 percent of cigarettes, 47 percent of bidi and 52 percent of young smokeless tobacco users picked up the habit before their 10th birthday.
Shalini equated tobacco companies and their products as demons and said, “We are confronting a demon and we have to unitedly fight against it. We have noted that people who begin smoking at a younger age are more likely to become addicted to nicotine and have trouble quitting. These tobacco companies know this fact. And hence for their vested interest they do not think twice before targeting these innocent lives.”
Slamming the tobacco companies for indulging in various nefarious tactics to hook the kids as young as ten years old for their profits, Kanoongo too held responsible the celebrities engaged in endorsing the harmful products as ‘cool’ that
compromise the health of the kids.
“Once the COTPA Amendments get green signal from the Parliament, those endorsing surrogate advertisements will be behind the jail,” he warned.
The NCPCR Chief also called for strict action against advertising companies engaged in high-blitz campaigns and experimental marketing for the tobacco firms to reach out to new customers and lure impressionable minds.