NGO urges Assam to strictly implement COTPA to protect children, youth from tobacco products

A non-government organisation has urged the Assam government to strictly implement the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003 to protect children and youth from tobacco products, the NGO said in a release on Saturday. The NGO, Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), made the appeal on the eve of the World No Tobacco Day.

The COTPA regulates trade and commerce and prohibits the advertisement of tobacco products. Tobacco use is one of the major risk factors for non- communicable diseases, which is one of the major co-morbidity factors of COVID-19, it said. The NGO has also launched an awareness and signature campaign in Guwahati against tobacco use, the release said.

Quoting the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS-2) report, it said that the prevalence of tobacco use in India decreased from 34.6 per cent to 28.6 per cent between 2009 and 2017 whereas, in Assam, it increased from 39.3 per cent to 48.2 per cent during that period. "The World Health Organisation's theme for this year's World No Tobacco Day is to alert the youth against the tobacco industry's tactics to hook them to the addictive products," the release said.

According to the WHO, every year the tobacco industry invests more than USD 9 billion to advertise its products targeting youngsters in a bid to replace the 8 million people killed every year due to use of tobacco products, it said.

The WHO has observed that even during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the tobacco and nicotine industry persists in pushing products that limit people's ability to fight the novel coronavirus and recover from the disease, the release added.