As the adage goes, “prevention is better than cure,” close to 90 per cent of oral cancers can be prevented if the Governments implement the Supreme Court’s order which bans chewing tobacco which is being sold rampantly in twin packs, claim experts from Madhya Pradesh on the occasion of World Cancer Day.
Interestingly the MP was first among the States to ban chewing tobacco in 2012, but as elsewhere in the State, the paan masala is still widely available with the add on pouches of tobacco in the State with authorities playing mute spectator. The Indian Council Medical Research (ICMR) estimates, India will have more than 17.3 lakh new cancer cases and more than 8.8 lakh deaths due to cancer by 2020. Tobacco is the most preventable cause of death. 90 per cent of oral cancers and 40 per cent of all cancers are caused due to tobacco use. With these alarming numbers, the Honourable Supreme Court on September 23, 2016 had imposed ban on sale of tobacco in twin-packs like gutka, tobacco, pan masala, khaini etc. With no effective enforcement of this order, head and neck cancer cases are on constant rise.
“When we are aware what causes 90 per cent of oral cancers and the law is there to ban these chewing tobacco products in twin packs, then what is stopping the enforcementIJ” questions Dr TP Sahoo, Voice of Tobacco Victims (VoTV) patron from MP. According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016, around 19 per cent males smoke tobacco in MP while the numbers of women habitual of smoking is just 0.8 per cent. Over 38 per cent males in the State use tobacco in smokeless form (gutka, kahini and others) while only 16.8% females use tobacco in smokeless form, said another VoTV patron Dr lalit Shrivastava. Sambandh Health Foundation Trustee and Head of Tobacco Control, Sanjay Seth however explained epidemic proportions of tobacco consumption. “According to GATS 2016, there are 26.7 crore users of tobacco in India.