Gutka and pan masala banned in Uttarakhand

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government has put a total ban on the manufacturing, storage, distribution and sale of products like gutka and pan masala which have a high content of tobacco and nicotine in them.

Food Safety Commissioner Nitesh Kumar Jha late on Friday evening issued an order regarding the ban.

The decision was taken because of the harmful effects of tobacco and nicotine-based chewing products like gutka and pan masala on human health.

Explaining reasons behind the ban, the order said, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India prohibits use of tobacco and nicotine as an ingredient in any product meant for human consumption but it has been found that gutka, pan masala, and several other similar products being sold under different names continue to have a high content of them as components.

Significantly, Uttarakhand is not the only state that has banned pan masala. Earlier in Bihar too, pan masala was banned. From August 30 this year, Bihar had band 12 pan masala companies for one year.