Impact of ban on commercial smokeless tobacco products among users and vendors in West Bengal and Kerala states, India

Abstract

Introduction: Since 2011, sale of commercially available smokeless tobacco products for chewing such as gutkha has been prohibited in many states in India. The current study attempts to understand the effectiveness and perception towards ban on gutkha sales in West Bengal and Kerala. Methods: Total six districts from both the states (three districts from each state). From each district, 1 Municipality and 2 Community Development Blocks were selected randomly, representing each cluster. From each cluster, line transect survey was used to identify Point of Sale (POS) of tobacco products. Tobacco consumers and vendors were interviewed from POS. Results: 865 tobacco users (West Bengal = 450, Kerala = 415) and 173 vendors (West Bengal = 90, Kerala = 83) were interviewed for the study. 16.1% of the total users from Kerala were using gutkha alone or in combination with other tobacco chewing products while in West Bengal the corresponding figure was 17.3%. Knowledge on ban was high among the consumers (95.7%) and vendors (100%) in Kerala while in West Bengal it was 64% and 62.2% respectively. Gutkha was available in 68% of the shops in West Bengal, while in Kerala no sale was reported in shops, though half of the vendors interviewed, admitted its sales in black market. Conclusion: The ban had little impact in West Bengal in the open market, while it had moderate impact in Kerala. However, the black market sales in Kerala are a matter of concern. Strict legislative measures are essential to cut the supply route for effective implementation of the ban.

Keywords

• Chewing tobacco
• Gutkha
• Gutkha ban
• West Bengal
• Kerala