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Smokeless tobacco use by south Asian youth in the UK

The problem of the easy availability and increasing use of smokeless tobacco products by young people of south Asian origin in the UK needs to be urgently addressed.

Legislation exists, but is often flouted with the consequence that these products, which are associated with significantly increased risk of oropharyngeal cancers in young people,1 are available for as little as £0•20.

Cancer of the oropharynx constitutes one of the ten commonest cancers in the world. Important causal agents include the alkaloid content of the habit-forming betel nut (areca)—commonly known as supari among south Asians—and tobacco, whether smoked in cigarettes, bidis, or through a hookah or chewed as gutka or paan.2
Gutka is made up of tobacco, betel-nut fragments, fennel, and other spices, and is marketed in attractive colourful sachets that are appealing to children (figure). The recent addition of chocolate-flavoured ingredients may further enhance this appeal. Gutka can be bought by young people from “corner shops” in many UK inner cities for only a few pence.3

Source: The Lancet 12th July 2008
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