school news: August 2012

Friday, 17 August 2012

C M against pukayila

Home / Diseases & Conditions / Kerala tobacco sales order: CM threatens strict action

Kerala tobacco sales order: CM threatens strict action

May 16, 2012 at 5:40 PM

Tags: Cancer, Kerala, Oommen Chandy, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco ban

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said his government would take serious action against officials for issuing a wrong government order, allowing sale of tobacco products near schools in the state. ”We in June last year issued a government order prohibiting shops located within 400 metres from any school from selling tobacco products. The central government rule prohibits selling of tobacco products within just 100 metres of schools,” said Chandy.

He added that in May this year the state’s local self government department issued a new order which read that tobacco products could be sold in shops outside of 100 metres. ”Only the cabinet can revoke the decision to increase the area from 100 to 400 metres. We see this new order as a serious violation and we have asked the secretary and deputy secretary to give an explanation. Once we hear from them, appropriate action would be taken as this is a serious error,” said Chandy. In a 1999 ruling, Justice K.Narayana Kurup of the Kerala High Court had banned smoking in public places. Studies have found that 10.7 percent of the adult population in Kerala is hooked to tobacco.
Smoking is the leading cause of cancer and other chronic diseases. 1 out of 3 cancer-related deaths are caused due to tobacco use. Tobacco use is estimated to have caused nearly 120,000 deaths across India in 2010, according to research carried out by the Toronto-based Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR) in partnership with Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital. Nearly 600,000 Indians die of cancer every year – over seven in 10 deaths (71 percent) takes place in the 30-69 age group, the most productive period of a person’s life, says the report published in the latest issue of the Lancet medical journal. The study points out that Kerala had among the highest age standardised cancer mortality rates per 100,000 for men in the 30-69 age group (158.5 for all cancers and 53.9 for tobacco-related cancers).
Source: IANS