Youths send letters to PM Modi to amend COTPA

Bengaluru: More than 1,000 youths from Bengaluru have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to pass the COTPA (Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act) Amendment Bill 2020 in the ongoing monsoon session of the parliament to save youths from tobacco. Along with the youths, Consortium for Tobacco Free Karnataka, Anti-Tobacco Forum, National Law School of India University, and others have also urged the Prime Minister to pass the COTPA amendment bill 2020 drafted by the Union Health Ministry.

In their letters, youths stressed that to contain tobacco use and prevent youths from addiction, COTPA has to be amended to make it stronger and more comprehensive. They requested the Prime Minister to increase the legal age for tobacco use from the existing 18 to 21 years, ban the provision for Designated Smoking Areas at airports, hotels and bars, completely ban the direct and indirect advertisement of tobacco, and levy hefty penalties for smoking in public places and to make the public places 100 percent smoke-free.

"We find that COTPA is being violated blatantly. As per the Global Youth Tobacco Survey children even before attaining 10 years of age are getting addicted to tobacco. Children and youths are lured into tobacco through illegal advertisements. We have to ban all forms of direct and indirect tobacco advertisement by amending COTPA", said S J Chander, convenor of Consortium for Tobacco Free Karnataka, a coalition working on tobacco control in the state.

"Youths are getting lured by direct advertisements and indirect promotion of tobacco. They are the main target of the tobacco companies as once they get addicted it is difficult to get out of this vicious cycle. We request PM to increase the legal age for smoking to 21 years, by when youths realize that tobacco is not good for their health" said Eshaan S, a young tobacco champion, who was one of the youths who wrote letter to PM.

India has the second-largest number (268 million) of tobacco users in the world and of these 13 lakhs die every year from tobacco-related diseases. 10 lakh deaths are due to smoking, with over 200,000 due to secondhand smoke exposure, and over 35,000 due to smokeless tobacco use. Nearly 27% of all cancers in India are due to tobacco usage.

"Majority of the long-term tobacco users commence tobacco use while they are adolescents. Every individual has the right to health and the right to smoke-free public places. Article 21 of the Indian constitution guarantees this. So when a smoker 'smokes' in public places, he or she is not only spoiling his/her health but also threatening the lives of all those who are in that public place. This infringes the right of non-smokers his right to have a healthy lifestyle. We have to amend COTPA to make our public places 100 percent smoke-free" said Dr Vishal Rao, Renowned Oncologist and Member of Karnataka Government's High-Power Committee on Tobacco Control.