Vendor licensing to regulate sale of tobacco products in Tamil Nadu yet to take off

Health Department launches two-month drive to check sale of banned, chewable tobacco products

A plan to introduce tobacco vendor licensing to regulate sale of products is yet to take off in the State. The Health Department, in coordination with the Police and Local Administration Departments, has launched a two-month drive to check the sale of banned, chewable tobacco products, such as gutka and pan masala. In this line, the need to implement vendor licensing is being reiterated as it was the next step in tobacco control. An earlier proposal to roll out a licensing mechanism for vendors is yet to materialise. Recently, the Tamil Nadu People’s Forum for Tobacco Control submitted a memorandum to the Health Minister to bring in vendor licensing among a number of other demands. This was a licensing formulation for shopkeepers through which they would not be permitted to sell any product other than tobacco. This would reduce the availability and accessibility of tobacco products and also limit the density of tobacco retailers in the community, schools, colleges, parks and hospitals, the forum said. S. Cyril Alexander, State convenor of the forum, said vendor licensing would help in sustaining the enforcement measures. It would cover sections 4 (prohibition of smoking in a public place), 5 (prohibition of advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco products) and 6 (prohibition of sale to a person below the age of 18) under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act.