Gender and tobacco consumption in India

Debates around the production and consumption of tobacco have attempted to balance the adverse ecological and health impact of tobacco cultivation wit h its considerable potential to generate employment, income, and foreign ex change. Over the last decade, opinion in favor of reducing consumption has gained strength. This paper briefly reviews the origins and spread of the h abit from the Americas to Europe and Asia, and contemporary debates for and against tobacco use. Against this context, the situation regarding tobacco use in India is described using gender disaggregated data from recent sun cys conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the National Sample Survey (NSS). The data brings out regional disparit ies and differences between male and female consumption patterns. It is sug gested that some conventional wisdom regarding tobacco consumption can be q uestioned. For example, the highest levels of prevalence are not among the urban and affluent, but among the very pour. Women and children are die new focus of tobacco companies. In India the most interesting emerging trend i n consumption is the development of new smokeless tobacco products, such as gutka, which is widely consumed by women. The implications are that tobacc o policy has to be multi-faceted; and that health research and tobacco cont rol policy need to clearly evaluate the health effects of new products.