SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
GREEN TRIBUNAL ORDERS TEST OF COSMETICS CONTAINING MICROBEADS
· The National Green Tribunal has directed the Centre to test cosmetic products containing micro beads after a plea sought a ban on their use on the ground they are extremely dangerous for aquatic life and environment.
Exfoliating properties
· Micro beads are tiny plastic substances measuring less than five millimetres that act as exfoliators (agents which remove dead cells) on skin and teeth when used in soap, toothpaste and other products. Many brands manufacturing beauty products use micro beads, the plea said.
· The order came on a petition filed by Delhi-based lawyer Ashwini Kumar seeking a complete ban on the use of micro beads in the manufacture, import and sale of various cosmetics or personal care products. The matter has been listed for next hearing on February 15.
‘Dangerous’ product
· A Bench headed by Justice Jawad Rahim said it is the duty of the government to ensure that no “dangerous” product is allowed to be manufactured or sold to public and directed the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization to analyse the products in laboratory and submit a report in four weeks.
· The plea said: “The unregulated production and usage of plastic in micro beads in various cosmetic products and their excessive usage by the end user is leading to water pollution across the globe....”
WHY FM STATIONS CAN'T BROADCAST NEWS
· The Supreme Court said private FM radio stations will have an essential role to play in the world’s largest democracy — dissemination of news. They will have to exercise the right to inform with fairness and without prejudice and the right to counter and question the government’s version of news.
· At present news and current affairs broadcast is the monopoly of the Prasar Bharati Corporation, which owns and operates All India Radio
· The question is why there should be a continuing prohibition on FM radio stations and community radios from airing their own news and current affairs on a par with private TV channels and the print media.
Government control
· The court asked why the government wanted to control news on radio, which covers almost the entire population, even the rural masses, as per official estimates.
· The government’s prohibition, Common Cause argued, was in clear violation of the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict in 1995 in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting vs Cricket Association of Bengal.
· The apex court then held that “airwaves are public property to be used to promote public good and expressing a plurality of views, opinions and ideas”.
· “Policy Guidelines and of the Grant of Permission Agreements framed by the government which prohibit private FM radio stations and community radio stations from broadcasting their own news and current affairs programmes are clearly violative of the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution.
· It is submitted that the right to freedom of speech and expression also includes the right to information, which encompasses diverse interpretations of news and current affairs
Gag orders
· The court, in turn, directed the government to explain, in four weeks, the series of orders systematically passed between 2008 and 2013 to gag private radio from airing their own news and current affairs broadcasts.
· On November 28, 2008, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommended that for private FM radio broadcasting Phase III, FM broadcasters “may only be permitted to broadcast news, taking content from AIR, Doordarshan, authorised TV news channels, United News of India, Press Trust of India and any other authorised news agency without any substantive change in the content”.
· On July 25, 2011, a minor change was made under Phase III policy guidelines for FM to allow broadcast of FM radio news bulletins of AIR without any addition or modification.
· During the third National Community Radio Sammelan on February 10, 2013, the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry said that community radio stations would not be allowed to broadcast news for some time to come. As a stopgap measure, they could be permitted to re-transmit unedited AIR news.
· The policy document on radio was probably the only one in which the government did not stop at regulatory compliance, but attempted to prescribe what kinds of programming should be broadcast, Common Cause submitted.
· The NGO argued that no other democratic country had similar curbs.
· “None of the USA’s 14,000-plus radio stations, the 2,000-odd stations in Spain or the 1,000-plus stations each in Italy, France, Greece and Australia are barred from airing news and cultural affairs. In fact, many stations are solely news channels, including specialised ones for community radio,” the petition argued.
BAN ON E-CIGARETTES
· In the absence of clear evidence on the effect of e-cigarettes on tobacco de-addiction, the sale of these products must be accompanied by accurate health warnings
· Technology has permeated every nook and corner of our lives. It is even changing the way people smoke, whether for the better or worse is yet to be determined. Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), the most common prototype of which are e-cigarettes, are the new-age formula for people trying to quit smoking.
· However, they present a simultaneous promise and threat in the world of tobacco control. Although they are projected as ‘tobacco cessation’ products by various sellers, including tobacco giants themselves, the lack of concrete evidence in support of this claim coupled with the absence of any regulatory approval for their use make them a serious public health threat. This is especially the case when one considers the increasing import of e-cigarettes into the country.
· Market research also projects the compound annual growth rate of the Indian e-cigarette industry at 63.38 per cent in the period 2013-2018 (Research and Markets Report on E-cigarette Market in India 2014-2018).
Danger without warning
· As e-cigarettes contain nicotine and not tobacco, they do not fall within the ambit of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA), which mandates stringent health warnings on the packaging and advertisements of tobacco products.
· Most e-commerce websites sell e-cigarettes as therapeutic products which enable people to quit smoking. We went through 26 prominent and easily accessible e-commerce websites that sell e-cigarettes to study whether these products were sold with appropriate health warnings. The results of the survey are not heartening.
· Of the websites, 50 per cent have no health warnings on the consumption of e-cigarettes despite the fact that these products contain nicotine. Eight additional websites, which comprise 30 per cent of the dataset, display warnings in an inaccessible manner.
· These websites carry health warnings stating the addictive properties of nicotine and other ill effects of e-cigarettes (including the warning that e-cigarettes are not meant for non-smokers) but do not display them as a part of the description of the product.
· Instead, these warnings are displayed at the bottom of the web page or clubbed with the section on terms and conditions, unlikely to be noticed by a regular buyer. In one case, the health warning was incorrect, stating that “nicotine does not pose major health issues even at a higher volume of consumption.”
· Other dangers posed by e-cigarettes, which do not feature in the health warnings, are the possibilities of the product exploding (incidents have been reported globally) and accidental consumption of the liquid inside the e-cigarette, which leads to death.
· The current unregulated sale of e-cigarettes is dangerous for a country like India where the number of smokers is on the decline (WHO Global Report, 2015) as it increases the possibility of e-cigarettes becoming a gateway for smoking by inducing nicotine addiction and perpetuating smoking by making it more attractive, thereby encouraging persons to become users of tobacco as well as e-cigarettes.
· In the absence of clearer evidence on the effect of e-cigarettes on tobacco cessation, it is imperative that their sale be accompanied by accurate health warnings.
· This is especially relevant in India, where data in the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2009-2010 suggests that tobacco control laws, particularly the pictorial health warnings and advertisements, mandated under COTPA, have been highly effective in increasing awareness of the health risks of tobacco (smoking as well as non-smoking).
· More than 70 per cent of persons surveyed noticed health warnings on cigarettes, while approximately a quarter thought of quitting on seeing this warning. The effectiveness of such warnings in ultimately reducing tobacco consumption has also been confirmed by the WHO.
The way forward
· Since the first declaration of its intention to ban e-cigarettes containing nicotine in 2014, only Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Punjab have implemented the ban.
· The State governments are adopting different routes: Punjab has classified nicotine as a poison, while Maharashtra treats it as an unapproved drug.
· Lack of a uniform approach in dealing with this public health problem will not only jeopardise the health of the people, but will also enable the sellers of such products slip through the holes. The unaccountable delay in taking an action in this regard is a reflection of the apathy of the governments towards a serious and potential public health problem.
· In this light, it is recommended that first, the Indian government impose appropriate restrictions on the sale and advertisement, online and otherwise, of e-cigarettes, including proper health warnings, in order to plug the existing regulatory vacuum.
