Has ban on public smoking gone up in smoke?

It is nearly eight months since the Union government banned smoking in public places, and May 31 is the last date for all tobacco products
to start carrying pictorial warnings about the ills of tobacco on at least two-fifths of the surface of the package. As the World Health Organisation (WHO) celebrates World No-Tobacco Day on May 31, questions are being raised if the government’s initiatives have borne any fruit at all.

Devendranath Mishra, controller of examinations at RTM Nagpur University, said there has indeed been some improvement. “Cigarettes are viewed as a symbol of status and strength, a very skewed perception as smoking disturbs the public psyche in general. However, since the ban, the sale of cigarettes has perceivably gone down around educational institutions. However, a stricter vigil is always welcome,” he says.

Then again, there are those like Sumedha Maheshwari, a student, who says nothing has changed as far as smoking in public places is concerned. “I go to parks, cinema halls and restaurants, and invariably find smokers everywhere. Besides, there seems to be no dearth of them on the roads these days. The ban has definitely gone up in smoke,” she says.

Reena Cross welcomed the government order to clearly display warnings on packages of tobacco-based products. “I had been working for Times of India’s Teach India initiative at one of the lesser privileged areas in the city, when I came to know that several of the young children I taught were addicted to gutkha, or chewable tobacco,” she recalls.

“I once asked them to show me their teeth, and found their gums and teeth stained with tobacco. I asked them to stop consuming gutkha, but they shot back that their parents are regular tobacco chewers, and so they too should be allowed. Imagine my surprise when one of them added, ‘We feel better when we chew tobacco!’ Such addiction at such a small age is definitely not a healthy sign,” she says.

In the light of such addiction, Cross can only hope that the ‘picture on package’ rule for tobacco-based products reduces the use of tobacco. The new rule applies to all companies with strict action promised against any tobacco product package found to contain misleading or false information. Interestingly, the new rule will penalise not only the producer or the manufacturer, but the distributor and the seller of tobacco products too for all violations.