Summary:
CHENNAI: The government’s Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) mandates ban on the sale of tobacco within a 100-yard (approximately 100m) radius around schools. "These shops target children as young as eight in Tamil Nadu through their advertisements near schools. "When you ask them, they say they are not selling tobacco, but when I send my staff to find out under the guise of wanting to buy cigarettes, that’s when we learn the truth," says Prasad. Yet, according to a new study, of the 487 shops surveyed within this radius of schools across 20 cities in India, 225 were found to be selling tobacco products.In Tamil Nadu , 68 schools were surveyed in Chennai, Coimbatore and Pudukottai, and 34 violations were recorded. "The mandatory warning display board was found only at four out of 34 points of sale," says Amarjeet Singh Panghal of Consumer Voice, New Delhi, which released the Tamil Nadu findings of the survey, Big Tobacco Tiny Targets, on Tuesday..