20 countries to unite in Delhi to fight against smokeless tobacco

The smokeless tobacco products are widely used in India even after Union government's steps to reduce the products.

New Delhi, May 18: Around 20 countries are coming to Delhi to form guidelines against the smokeless tobacco. The first meet in this regard will take place in Delhi from August 16 to 18 this year, said the reports.

Due to lack of proper uniform policy against these SLT products consumption such as snus, snuff, gutka, tambaku, khaini, qiwam etc which are very harmful to health the countries are coming together to form guidelines.

The World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Noida in collaboration with the Union Health Ministry is already on the path to form a policy against this SLT product consumption.

Now, according to the health ministry officials, it aims to impose heavy taxes and form strict guidelines for the advertisement on the SLT products.

Dr Ravi Mehrotra, director of WHO FCTC said that it is the first time that a global policy is being looked at for SLTs and it is important to take a stand considering that India is currently one of the biggest exporters of SLT products.

According to reports, 90.4 per cent of SLT users lives in 11 countries such as India, Bang, Myanmar, Pakistan, United States, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Madagascar, Germany and Uzbekistan.

Harmful health effects due to consumption of SLTS causes cancer, pre-cancer, cardiovascular effects, adverse pregnancy outcome, respiratory infection, addiction and poor oral health that can lead to death at an early stage in life.

According to 2015 report, 352 million people in 121 countries were said to be the consumers of SLT products. Among these 352 million people 95 per cent live in developing countries.

OneIndia News