State Bans on Manufactured Quid
The situation has reached such proportions that the government has no way out except to ban the product. In public health, banning of widely-used products is generally not favoured. This product,however,needs to be banned because under indian laws, gutka is classed as a food item and within the purview of prevention of food Adulteration Act. The Central Committee on Food Safety(CCFS) has already recommended a complete ban to the Central Government. The CCFS members unanimously wanted a complete ban on manufacture and marketing of gutka for 3 reasons: 1)children are getting addicted to these product in large numbers; 2) users develop OSF and cancer over a relatively shorter duration and die earlier compared to smokers; 3)women prefer smokeless tobacco due to social disapproval of their smoking and therefore may be particularly vulnerable to gutka addiction. All legal evaluation processes required for banning gutka nationally have been completed. Gutka has now been banned by the following states: Tamil Nadu,from November 19,2001; Andhra Pradesh;Goa;Maharashtra,from August 1,2002. Other developments that took place in quick succession during the first week of August 2002 : the Cabinet in Rajasthan accepted the ban in principle and the high Courts in Utter Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh asked their Governments to ban gutka, but these were later stayed by the Supreme Court.