Supreme Court orders remaining states to join fast-growing effort to save lives
Editor
Apr 5, 2013
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with more than 200 million residents, has become the country’s latest state to begin implementing the ban on the sale of gutka, a deadly form of chewing tobacco that is fueling an oral cancer epidemic. This action follows the Supreme Court’s denial of a tobacco industry petition to stay implementation of the ban.
Continue reading India’s most populous state bans deadly gutka chewing tobacco
posted April 05, 2013
More states ban cancer-causing gutka chewing tobacco
Editor
Sep 7, 2012
Despite powerful opposition from a billion-dollar industry, India continues to make progress in banning gutka – a deadly form of chewing tobacco that is fueling the country’s oral cancer epidemic.
Continue reading India fights addictive “path to death”
posted September 07, 2012
Maharashtra becomes fourth state to act this year
Editor
Jul 17, 2012
There is growing momentum in India to ban gutka, a form of chewing tobacco flavored with spices and sweeteners that is a major cause of oral cancer in the country. Maharashtra, which has Mumbai as its capital, has become the latest Indian state to ban the cheap, mass-produced product, joining three other states – Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Bihar – that have done so this year, according to a story by AFP.
Continue reading Efforts to Ban Cancer-Causing Gutka Gain Momentum in India
posted July 17, 2012
States in oral cancer capital of the world take action
Editor
Jun 8, 2012
A growing number of states in India have banned or are considering bans on smokeless gutka, a cancer-causing cocktail of flavored smokeless tobacco and additives. Extremely cheap and easily purchased by children and teenagers, an estimated 5 million kids are addicted to the product.
Continue reading Ban on Smokeless Gutka Gains Ground in India
posted June 08, 2012
Rural areas previously uncounted show heavy toll
Editor
Mar 30, 2012
The first nationwide study of cancer in India shows the clear link between the nation’s urgent tobacco problem and cancer rates. The study published in The Lancet is the first to document the burden of tobacco use in India’s rural areas, where 70 percent of Indians live.
Continue reading First India Cancer Study Shows Clear Link to Tobacco
posted March 30, 2012
Lax enforcement of ban on sales to kids drives epidemic among young people
Editor
Dec 1, 2011
BBC World's innovative series The Health Show will broadcast a report this weekend examining India's daunting problem of tobacco use among children and its shocking consequences for health.
Young people in India commonly use gutka, a carcinogenic cocktail of flavored smokeless tobacco and additives. Extremely cheap and easily purchased by children and teenagers, an estimated 5 million kids are addicted to the product. It's responsible for 90 percent of oral cancer cases in India.
Continue reading BBC World Investigates Why India is the Oral Cancer Capital of the World
posted December 01, 2011
India’s smokeless tobacco epidemic claims actor whose character fought “gutka king”
Editor
Sep 16, 2011
Tobacco does not spare even Superman.
Shafique Sheikh, a 25-year old Indian actor, became a local celebrity playing Superman in a spoof of the popular superhero movies. In Sheikh's version of the film, Superman battled an evil "gutka king" who wants to flood the town with cheap, addictive chewing tobacco.
In real life, the former textile worker had begun using the local form of smokeless tobacco — gutka — at age eight, consuming as many as 40 packets daily until he was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition in his jaw when he was 18.
Continue reading Even Superman Succumbs to Tobacco
posted September 16, 2011
People hooked on gutka want authorities to take fast action
Rajika Jayatilake, Associate Director, International Communications
Aug 15, 2011
Hundreds of thousands of victims of smokeless tobacco are raising their voices against a regional product — gutka — that is responsible for 90 percent of oral cancer cases in India, the nation with the highest rate of oral cancer in the world.
State by state, tobacco users who became addicted at young ages and suffer from devastating illnesses are trying to shock their state chief executives into action by telling their personal stories. So far, the chief ministers in 11 out of 28 states already have signed a pledge to "rid India of this menace tobacco."
Continue reading Smokeless Tobacco Users in India Cry “Enough!”
posted August 15, 2011
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