Tobacco.org

• Cigarette kiosks throng Mumbai's smoke-free zones 

There are more than 5 million child smokers in India of whom 55,000 children use tobacco daily and the reason are cigarette vending shops which are flourishing right outside schools and colleges, blatantly flouting law.

A student, Ashish (name changed to conceal identity) says, "Outside our college there is a cigarette shop which tempts us to smoke."

However, law prohibits sale of tobacco within 100 yards of educational institutions. It also prohiits advertisements of tobacco products as is clear under the Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution Act 2003.

A survey by Mumbai's Cancer Patients Aid Association claims that among children smokers, 60 per cent are boys and 47 per cent girls. For most of these children, the habbit started at the age of 14 years.

College authorities in Mumbai meanwhile, lay the blame the BMC's apathy towards implementing the law.

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