India: Amendment to JJ Act A Game Changer: Anti-tobacco Groups

Source from:  The Hindu 02/17/2016

Calling it a game changer, various international and national organisations have written to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development appreciating the amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. The Act now states that "anyone who gives or causes to give tobacco products to children shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to a fine which may extend up to Rs.1 lakh".

Calling for strict enforcement of the new law, E. Ulysses Dorotheo of Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) said: "With this Act, India has becomes the only nation in the entire world to impose such a tough penalty for facilitating supply of tobacco to minors."

The group called the move important and an unprecedented development to protect the young from tobacco's terrible addiction. The organisations include SEATCA, Action on Smoking and Health Foundation, Thailand; International UNION against TB and Lung Diseases; Aga Khan University and Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan; Health Institute Association Turkey; and Voluntary Health Association of India.

Javaid A. Khan of National Alliance for Tobacco Control at Aga Khan University said taking the good example from India "our organisation is requesting the Pakistan government to do the same".

According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, the age of initiation of tobacco habits in India is 17 years. The survey adds that up to 20 per cent of children in India are tobacco users and over 5,500 children /adolescents start tobacco consumption daily.

The India Global Youth Tobacco Survey, a survey of students in Classes VIII, IX and X conducted in 2009, highlighted that 14.6 per cent used some form of tobacco. One in five students live in homes where others smoke and one-quarter of students have at least one parent who smokes. Since there is no safe level of tobacco usage, consumer safety from tobacco products is best served by preventing its usage altogether.

Pankaj Chaturvedi, a surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, said: "Cigarette and Other Tobacco Product Act law has Sections that protect children. However, the punishments are weak and this is over come by the JJ Act."

Tobacco control advocate Mira Aghi noted: "This latest Act recognises the harmful effects of tobacco on human health and at the same time focuses on the tobacco industry's sinister design to specifically target vulnerable children as their new consumers. We see this Act as a path-breaking amendment to curb the growing menace of tobacco and applaud it." Enditem