A Thing To Chew On

IF a government committee has its way, your favourite pan masala pouch could soon disappear from your neighbourhood pan shop. It has recommended a blanket ban on the manufacture, distribution, stocking and sale of all forms of chewing tobacco including pan masala, gutka and plain and zafrani zarda.

The proposal was mooted by the expert committee appointed by the UF government, in its meeting of September 1997. Last month, it was decided, in principle, to ban these products on health grounds.

This is expected to be ratified when the Central Committee on Food Standards under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) meets in New Delhi on April 13, after which a public announcement will be made.

The ban's triggered by the government accumulating substantial evidence that non-smoking tobacco causes cancer of oral cavities, pharynx and oesophagus and also leads to coronary artery diseases. The committee also says it has data to prove that consumption of chewing tobacco has increased the incidence of oral cancer in the country. According to official statistics, consumption has increased tremendously over the last decade or so. The industry has grown six-fold in five years to reach around Rs 1,200 crore in turnover in 1997.

Among the studies referred to by the committee is one by the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, which states that pan masala with chewing tobacco, if consumed for five to seven years, led to oral fibro-sis. Another study by the Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University of the US, showed mutagenic activities—which could lead to genetic deformities—amongst users of pan masala, with or without tobacco. Yet another study by Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Calcutta, revealed that 31 per cent of malignant cancer cases were attributable to tobacco.

The prospect of this ban has left manufacturers of flavoured chewing tobacco fuming. The domestic industry, with close to 300 companies and a Rs 1,200 crore turnover in the organised sector, says the government is acting in haste and under the influence of MNC cigarette companies who have been the direct sufferers of the pan masala and gutka revolution in India. They claim the cigarette industry has lost 25 to 30 per cent of their market since the beginning of organised chewing tobacco manufacture in India 12 to 15 years ago. "It's funny that a cigarette, which has 100 per cent tobacco content, is allowed to survive and pan masala and gutka, with 20 per cent tobacco, is being banned," says Shree Gopalji Gupta, MD, Gopal Industries of Gopal zarda. Says M.M. Kothari, proprietor, Kothari Products, makers of the popular Pan Parag pan masala and gutka: "Cigarettes have been proven to be harmful. When doctors and researchers in the US and Europe are asking people to switch to chewing tobacco, in India, the government is going the other way round."

Manufacturers argue that studies show chewing tobacco is 98 per cent safer than cigarette smoking. A study by the Central Tobacco Research Institute, a government agency, said "chewing of tobacco or its presence in gutka and pan masala is far less harmful, if at all, in comparison to direct smoking of tobacco, cigarettes and cigars."

The manufacturers also point out that the committee in its report has admitted that epidemiological studies linking oral cancer to the use of pan masala and other forms of chewing tobacco, were unavailable and the government had based its report on unsubstantiated theories. "The government has no concrete evidence to prove this sector is directly responsible for the incidence of oral cancer. Its decision is arbitrary," says Ashok Agarwal of Dharampal Satyapal Group, makers of Rajnigandha pan masala and Tulsi zarda.

But DGHS officials say that since pan masala in India is of recent origin and oral cancer has a long incubation period of 15 to 20 years, any epidemiological study now would be useless. Their theory: "Sufficient information is available on the carcinogenicity or cancerous nature of two mixtures similar in composition with pan masala containing tobacco—Mainpuri tobacco and mawa, a tobacco mix. If these can have a harmful effect on human beings...pan masala containing tobacco would have the same harmful effects."

The other aspect is that the industry employs over 50 million people in its manufacture and raw material supply and many more in its distribution networks. That could be too large a number for a bare-majority Union government to offend. If it follows the committee's recommendations, there could be serious political repercussions. The question now is of priorities.