What is the Government thinking?

|
  • 9

What is the Government thinking?

Saturday, 28 September 2019 | Tanvi Srivastava/Yasharth Kant

What is the Government thinking?

Smoking and vaping are equally bad for health and any step to protect citizens will always be welcome. However, the Government cannot be seen to shield one hazardous industry at the cost of another, say Tanvi Srivastava and Yasharth Kant

The period drama Mad Men based in the 1960s America, pilots with an advertising company tasked with selling cigarettes as a “safe” product in response to a fairly new research claiming otherwise. They appealed to the aesthetic and brand managed cigarette to stand for more than just a product, a cultivated taste. Liquor, cigarettes and other injurious products have all been sold as acquired taste, though it is no secret that smoking will lead to illnesses, including lung cancer. As such, there has never been any shortfall in its demand.

The E-cigarette, once considered a healthier substitute, is being touted as the new-age addiction on similar lines as cigarette. Unburnt nicotine used in e-cigarette was considered preferable to byproducts like tar and burned nicotine produced on smoking. At present only 0.02 per cent people in the country use it but globally it is being conjectured to rise to the level of an epidemic.

 If smoking cigarettes is injurious to health; vaping is not only (little less) injurious to health but also heavy on the pockets. The instrument used for vaping was already costly and now as per the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertisement) Ordinance, 2019, consumption, production, manufacturing, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertisement of e-cigarettes would become illegal.  Fines would range from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh and imprisonment from six months to three years.

Is it not true that like gums, lozenges and patches and even Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS) were developed as an alternative to smoking which is a definitive cause of cancer? The Government cites a US study which states that youth and children are the parties at risk of addiction. If adolescents are at risk, then is it not possible to regulate it like liquor and tobacco instead of putting in place a blanket ban?

As a corollary, it was seen that shares of tobacco companies like ITC gained 1.8 per cent; Godfrey Phillips India soared 7.8 per cent, VST Industries rose 1 per cent and Golden Tobacco advanced 4.5 per cent on announcement of the ordinance. The Centre and State Governments have been accused of helping the cigarette industry in the past. In 2017, auction of custom-seized/confiscated cigarettes without pictorial warning was banned. Prima facie, this seems like a well-intended objective. But you scratch the surface and you realise that this only means that imported cigarettes cannot be sold in India (as they do not have pictorial warning) while the big Indian brands continue to operate openly. Is the Government correct in distinguishing e-cigarettes from cigarettes? Article 14 of the Constitution provides for reasonable classification based on “intelligible differentia,” something which is capable of being understood. Logically vaping is nothing but a sub-set of smoking and the Government is free to ban res extra commercium (a thing outside commerce). As per recorded data though, there are manifold smokers than vapers in the country. The recent step raises eyebrows on why have cigarettes not been banned in equal measure like e-cigarettes. Is it “welfare” alone or the fact that the economy, at the moment, is in the doldrums and a fresh impetus is needed from wherever possible? Last year’s data of both ITC and Golden Tobacco shows that they have been in the red. Godfrey Phillips India Limited was in the red for the past six months.

It is acknowledged that starting from 2014, vaping has already been banned in 15 States and two Union Territories, including Punjab, Karnataka, Mizoram, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh,  Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Odisha, Nagaland. UTs include Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry. Yet all these places freely allow sale of ordinary cigarettes.

No one is suggesting that the Government should not regulate addictive products but all action must bear a reasonable nexus with object it wants to achieve. Is it only health and curbing addiction or is it economics too?

In the case of Murli S Deora on the ban on smoking in public, the apex court opined that “Tobacco is universally regarded as one of the major public health hazards and is responsible directly or indirectly for an estimated eight lakh deaths annually in the country. It has also been found that treatment of tobacco-related diseases and the loss of productivity caused therein cost the country almost Rs 13,500 crore annually, which more than offsets all the benefits accruing in the form of revenue and employment generated by tobacco industry.”  Perhaps regulating sale/consumption of e-cigarettes along with normal cigarettes was the best way forward, health wise as well.

There is no lesser evil here. All intake is harmful, and should be regulated on the same yardstick. Chewing tobacco and smoking are both proven health hazards and any beneficial steps by the Government to better health under Article 47 of the Constitution will always be welcomed. But the steps should not be seen to protect one hazardous industry at the cost of another.

(Srivastava is Law Officer in MSTC Ltd, and Kant is a Supreme Court Advocate)

Sunday Edition

CAA PASSPORT TO FREEDOM

24 March 2024 | Kumar Chellappan | Agenda

CHENNAI EXPRESS IN GURUGRAM

24 March 2024 | Pawan Soni | Agenda

The Way of Bengal

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

The Pizza Philosopher

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

Astroturf | Lord Shiva calls for all-inclusiveness

24 March 2024 | Bharat Bhushan Padmadeo | Agenda

Interconnected narrative l Forest conservation l Agriculture l Food security

24 March 2024 | BKP Sinha/ Arvind K jha | Agenda