Prevent sale of toffees from shops selling tobacco: Centre to states

Jaipur/Kota: The Centre has issued directions to states including Rajasthan for developing a mechanism to provide permission or authorisation through municipal authority to the retail shops who are selling tobacco products.

The authorisation will be provided with a condition that the shops authorised for selling tobacco products, cannot sell any non-tobacco products such as toffees, candies, chips, biscuits, soft drinks which are essentially meant for children.

The Centre has issued such letters to states of the country and Rajasthan too has received the letter.

A health department official said that the policy of the World Health Organisation is to discourage tobacco consumption by discouraging demand and also by discouraging supply. For discouraging demand, pictorial warnings on packets of tobacco products have already been mandatory.

But, now to discourage supply, it is recommended that the sellers should get authorisation from civic bodies to sell the tobacco products. Those who do not have any authorisation will not be able to sell tobacco products. Also, in the letter, the Centre has also recommended to the state government that those who have authorisation for selling tobacco products, will not be able to sale other products commonly purchased by children such as like toffee, biscuits and chocolates.

Essentially, the ministry desires to licence the sale of tobacco through authorized vendors only, Pawan Singhal, state patron of Voice of Tobacco Victims (VoTV) and senior surgeon at SMS hospital, Jaipur. Dr Singhal said adding in such a case, sale of candies/chocolates/biscuits would lead to cancellation of license.

Dr Singhal said the decision to license sellers for tobacco products sale would help save the coming generation from the several diseases and forms of cancer. The same demand was earlier in 2016 was raised in the state and sent a memorandum to the state chief minister, he added.