Check Tobacco Use

Though anti-tobacco campaigns have been going on in Nepal for years, the use of smokeless tobacco products, including betel quid or gutka, has now become widespread across the country. Such addictive products are manufactured with the mixing of tobacco, crushed betel nut and various spices. These chewing products also contain catechu, paraffin wax, slaked lime and sweet or savoury flavours. People consume gutka, like chewing tobacco, by placing its pinch in-between the gum and cheek. Such stuffs seem to have been designed in such a way that even young adults and others could keep consuming them once they taste these habit-forming items. Despite being hazardous to human health, these products are found in most of grocery shops in both rural and urban areas across the nation.  The commonly available gutka brands in Nepal include Bhola and Current. One can see red-coloured empty packets of gutka scattered on every street even in the Kathmandu Valley. Many other Asian countries like India and Pakistan have also been thriving markets for these products.

Manufacturers are found adding savory flavors as well to gutka in order to make it more tempting for users. However, the blends of gutka ingredients differ as per the local preferences. What is more displeasing is that gutka contains carcinogens, which is responsible for different kinds of cancer. Health specialists say that gutka consumers are highly vulnerable to cancer of the head, mouth, neck, throat, oesophagus, aerodigestive tract cancers, dental disease and numerous other non-commutable diseases. It is believed that the key ingredient in gutka causes severe oral mucosal disorders as well. As producers have been promoting and marketing gutka as a safer product than cigarettes, many people willing to give up smoking seem to be switching to this form of smokeless tobacco. With its stimulant and relaxation effects on consumers, gutka is cheaper as compared to cigarettes. This is one of the reasons why more people are going for this highly addictive substance.

The human body absorbs the nicotine more easily from smokeless tobacco than cigarettes. Once a person consumes gutka, the ingredients enter the body system through the oral cavity. It instantly absorbs more than two dozen harmful carcinogenic chemicals, including the nicotine. Thus, there are high chances for users to become addict to gutka in no time. Yet another defect of consuming this stuff is that it turns saliva bright red. Users may find their teeth red. When they spit onto a wall or at the ground, it causes a red stain there. Because of this, those who do not consume gutka do not like the users of this stuff. 

The Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS)-2016 indicates that use of any type of smokeless tobacco is much higher among men (40 per cent) than among women (three per cent). According to a news report published in this daily on Monday, the number of cancer cases, including oral cancer, has been on the rise in Nepal annually. Consumption of gutka as well as other tobacco products has emerged as a major challenge in the country even in the face of interventions being made by the government and other health organisations. As suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nepal needs to strictly monitor tobacco use, formulate prevention policies, offer people help to quit tobacco, enforce ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and increase taxes on tobacco.