News
Children getting addictive snuff at schoolgates
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
Using a decade-old loophole in the law, importers are bringing an addictive substance called SVS snuff, or dunkudu, and peddling it mainly among schoolchildren.
Snuff is smokeless, powdered tobacco. While it does not contain narcotics, snuff has nicotine and is addictive. It is also a “gateway product” for schoolchildren, according to Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, Chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA). This means there is a danger of children using this snuff going on to take up smoking and other addictive substances in future.
In September last year, Customs officials confiscated 75,000 vials of SVS snuff being brought in from India. The importer, had tried to get the stock cleared through Customs by declaring the consignment as ‘sambrani’ or incense.
Later, a second stock was seized. This time, the importer had declared it to be SVS snuff while falsely claiming it was for Ayurveda purposes.
Importers are able to continue bringing in snuff because, while it is now 10 years since the NATA Act which established the Authority came into effect, regulations enabling full implementation of the law have not been promulgated. In effect, there is no list of prescribed tobacco products. It was not immediately clear why the authorities have failed to promulgate these regulations.