Punjab renews oral tobacco bans

Oral products containing tobacco and ingredients deemed to be ‘food’ are to remain on the banned list in the Indian state of Punjab, according to a story in the most recent issue of the BBM Bommidala newsletter.

Punjab’s chief minister, Parkash Singh Badal, has approved a proposal by the State Health and Family Welfare Department to extend the regulation banning the production, storage, distribution and sale of gutkha and pan masala for a further year.

Oral products containing tobacco and food ingredients are sold under a profusion of names in India; so the state has also banned ‘other products containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients by whatsoever name [they are] available in the market’, though presumably not potatoes and tomatoes.

The original notification of the ban was issued on September 5, 2012, and was due to expire on September 9, 2013.