Young India finds tobacco products less appealing

India has witnessed an overall decline in the number of tobacco users in past seven years, especially among the age group of 15 to 24, revealed the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016-17. The government has hailed larger pictorial warnings as an effective tool. As per the report released on Thursday, over 61.9 per cent adults thought of quitting cigarettes, 53.8 per cent thought of quitting bidi and 46.2 per cent adults thought of quitting smokeless tobacco because of the warnings on tobacco products, the survey found.

GATS 2016-17 was conducted by the Union health ministry with technical assistance from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US. A nationally representative household survey of persons aged 15 and above, it was conducted in all 30 states of India and two union territories. A total of 74,037 individuals were interviewed between August 2016 and February 2017. The first GATS in India was conducted in 2009-10.

The survey revealed that the prevalence of tobacco use has decreased by six per cent — from 34.6 per cent in GATS 1 in 2009-10 to 28.6 per cent in GATS 2 in 2016-17.

Interestingly, the prevalence of tobacco use among the younger population — aged 15-24 — has reduced from 18.4 per cent in GATS 1 to 12.4 per cent in GATS 2.

“A six per cent reduction wasn’t easy for a large country like India. Gutka and pan masala were increasingly attracting the youth, but results indicate that fewer kids are now picking up the habit,” said Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, Oncologist, Tata Memorial Hospital Mumbai.

While the number of tobacco users has reduced by about 81 lakh in last seven year, tobacco products have also gradually become unaffordable. The average expenditure incurred on last purchase of cigarette, bidi and smokeless tobacco is Rs 30, Rs 12.5 and Rs 12.8 respectively. The expenditure on cigarette has tripled and that on bidi and smokeless tobacco has doubled since GATS 1, the survey found.

“The reduction in consumption shows effective implementation of tobacco control laws. Some important steps were 85 per cent graphic health warnings, smoke-free rules, gutka ban, higher tobacco taxes and recent decision of putting all tobacco products at the highest GST rate, including bidis,” said Bhavna Mukhopadhyay, Chief Executive Voluntary Health Association of India.

Popular poison

Among the men, the three most commonly consumed tobacco products are khaini (8.5 crore users), bidi (6.7 crore) and gutka (5.1 crore). Among women, it is the betel quid with tobacco (2 crore users), tobacco for oral application (2 crore) and khaini (1.9 crore)