Till date 16 states and three Union Territories (UTs) have implemented the ban on gutka and pan masala with tobacco/nicotine under the Food Safety and Standards Act. Now the directors of 12 regional cancer centres in India along with the Indian Dental Association and Tata Memorial Hospital have written letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad urging them to implement the ban in the remaining states as well. Raising serious concerns over the growing gutka/paan masala menace the directors have urged the Centre to take speedy action to completely ban the manufacture and sale of
