THE PAPER "TIGER" ROARS AGAIN-ANY ONE LISTENING?

India is a country which is better known for its profligacy in making laws with good intention. Unfortunately most of the laws are ineffectively enforced giving encouragement to the citizens to break them with impunity! Is this not making the citizens compulsive law breakers every day? One may recall that there was a big hue and cry regarding the pollution caused to the environment by indiscriminate use of plastics, especially the ultra thin "carry bags" used commonly by the consumers to cart their purchases to their home. After debating for years about imposing a ban on the manufacture and use of such thin bags, a law was promulgated to make it "illegal" to make and use bags from films less than 40 microns. But this law is rarely enforced and thin bags are still in use in many states. The latest law is regarding banning of chewing tobacco by the FSSAI because of its supposed harmful effect on human health. Why it has taken the "Authority" so many years to impose a ban, though the deleterious effect of tobacco was known for decades, is still a mystery. Here is a take on this "development"!

"Chewing tobacco, like gutka and paan masala, has been included among banned "food products" in the government's new food safety guidelines. The move has been welcomed by health activists. Coming close on the heels of a ban on the usage of plastic pouches to package chewing tobacco and pan masala, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under the health ministry issued a notification prohibiting tobacco to be used as an ingredient in any food product. The food safety notification which was announced in early August says: "Product not to contain any substance which may be injurious to health. Tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food product." Clearing the air about terming tobacco as a food product, V.N. Gaur, director of FSSAI, said that chewing tobacco, like gutka or pan masala, can be called food because it is consumed like any other food product".

If one carefully reads the interpretation, it is easy to infer that the ban only applies to foods that contain tobacco or nicotine and whether chewing tobacco products like paan masala can be considered a food is open to differing views. What is food needs a clear understanding and normally it is understood that only substances swallowed through the oral route can be considered a food. In this case only some chewing tobacco products are swallowed while others are spit out after some chewing. One has not yet heard the last word on this "hot" issue and the multi billion rupees chewing tobacco industry is unlikely to take any such ban lying down. If GOI does not ban cigarettes and other tobacco products knowing well that they are injurious to health because of the huge "income" contributed by this industry in the form of excise duty to the exchequer, with what face it can single out the chewing tobacco industry for a ban? A valid question indeed!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com