The state cabinet approved a blanket ban on the manufacture, storage and distribution of all types of gutkha and paan masala which have tobacco and nicotine content due to increased number of oral cancer patients.
Cabinet co-ordination department’s principal secretary N N Pandey said the order would become effective in the entire state soon after publication of a notification.
Pandy added that since 2006, there has been a nearly 30 per cent increase in the number of oral cancer patients, a majority of them were addicted to tobacco and related products.
The ban has been slapped under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which the state government implemented in January this year after the law was enacted five years ago.
