Food laws a boost to counter tobacco industry in India

September 2, 2021

Par: National Committee Against Smoking

Dernière mise à jour: September 2, 2021

Temps de lecture: 5 minutes

An Indian study[1] examined the procedures initiated by tobacco manufacturers against local regulations intended to ban oral tobacco products. An approach that could prove promising and invites us to seize the entire legislative arsenal.

India has a long history of oral tobacco and many types of traditional chewing tobacco products (gutka, paan masala, zarda, khaini, etc.) or industrial products are still widely used. In this country where tobacco use affects 29% of the population, the prevalence of oral tobacco (21%, or 199 million adults) is twice that of smoked tobacco (11%), with a minority having mixed use. Chewing tobacco is still misrepresented and is widely used as a substitute for smoked tobacco; it also contributes to a high rate of oral cancers, which constitute 30 to 40% of cancers in India and do not spare young users.[2].

Using food laws to ban chewing tobacco

Before the introduction of COTPA, which strengthened anti-smoking legislation in 2003, five Indian states attempted, between 2001 and 2003, to locally ban chewing tobacco using a federal law governing food. The tobacco industry promptly took these bills to court, arguing that their products were not food and that the regional states could not assert federal jurisdiction. The Indian Supreme Court then ruled in favor of the industry.

A second wave of similar bills was introduced by 19 Indian states in 2012, systematically leading to lawsuits by tobacco companies. Using a new federal food law passed in 2006 that took chewing gum as a typical example, the states again proposed banning certain chewing tobacco products. Relying on case law, the Supreme Court was then able to assert the right of regional states to supplement federal public health legislation, while denying that COTPA was the only regulation applicable to tobacco products. The manufacturers were all dismissed here and the regional states were thus able to issue bans on chewing tobacco products.

Extension of legal areas

The authors of the study stress the need, for any measure to combat smoking and various tobacco products, not only to carefully weigh all the angles of the legal aspect, but also to coordinate the regional, national and international levels of intervention. Following the example of these examples based on laws governing food, they recommend seizing any legal tool to oppose the tobacco industry, going beyond the framework of health or smoking laws. A method already successfully applied in the field of human rights, where women's rights (in Argentina) and children's rights (in Australia and then in the rest of the world) have been mobilized to regulate the fight against smoking.

However, adopting laws is not enough; they must also be enforced. While it has been able to equip itself with numerous laws to combat tobacco and its derivative products, India seems to be particularly lacking in terms of their application. Bans on chewing tobacco are rarely applied and are frequently circumvented by similar products that do not fall under the laws, and have not prevented the increase in the use of these types of products.[3]. A situation that is reminiscent of the difficulty, in France as in many countries, of enforcing, for example, the ban on the sale of tobacco to minors. The Indian authorities were, however, able to seize the opportunity of the health crisis linked to COVID-19 to issue bans on spitting, which made it possible to extend regional bans on chewing tobacco products.[4]. A period of hindsight will be necessary to verify whether these new regulations have been implemented.