Violating law, tobacco products sold in close proximity to 87% schools: Study.
Tobacco is catching them young and right next to their schools. For, 87% of schools in the city have some or the other shops selling tobacco and tobacco-related products within 100 yards of their premises.
This was revealed in a recently-released study carried out jointly by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Baltimore, USA and the State Tobacco Control Cell of the Gujarat government.
The observational study of 30 randomly selected schools in the city included 20 public and 10 private schools.
It was revealed that in violation of law, tobacco advertising was being carried out in 57% of the cases, while in 83%, tobacco-related products were displayed within 100 yards of the schools.
As per the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products 2003 Act (COPTA), sale of tobacco products and its advertising and display within 100 yards of educational institutions is prohibited. The study was carried out to know how well this rule was being adhered to in Ahmedabad.
A health official associated with the Tobacco Control programme of the health department said that though the study was carried out in 2010 its results, which were released this year, are still relevant.
“Not much has changed since the study was conducted. Few know of the rule and even less follow it,” said the official who refused to be quoted as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
He further said that the poor implementation was also because unlike other countries, sale of tobacco products does not require a licence in India. “A pharmacist needs a licence to sell medicines but a shop-keeper can sell tobacco products without the same. This means the government can’t regulate where and how it is sold,” said the official. He said that to effectively implement the rule the government could make it mandatory for district education officers to look into sale of tobacco products near schools during their annual inspection. “This will force schools to be vigilant as well. The other option is to bring licensing for sale of tobacco-related products,” said the official.
However, schools believe that there is little they can do to stop the sale of such products in their vicinity. “First and foremost, I don’t think such shops target students. Their target customers could be parents as well as autorickshaw and van drivers who wait for students,” said Ranjeeta Gill, director of HB Kapadia group of schools.
She said most of the auto and van drivers consume tobacco in one or the other form and thus form a good customer base for such shops. Gill expressed helplessness when asked what schools could do about it.
“We have, on several earlier occasions, tried to ensure that the shops near the school don’t sell such products but our attempts were unsuccessful. Schools have a limited scope of action; the government should get proactive in implementing the rule,” said Gill.
She said that the schools on their part prevent children from going out during recess so as to prevent them from going to such shops. “But once they leave school, we can’t do much,” she said.
The study was carried out by Dr Frances Stillman, Dr Bhavesh Modi, Dr Paresh Dave, Dr Benjamin Apelberg and Dr Jessica L Elf.
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