WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has major flaw

Editor—The study by Sinha et al on the use of tobacco products as dentifrice among adolescents in India has highlighted a major flaw in the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control treaty: the smokeless tobaccos and derivatives of tobacco that are used as medicinal or cosmetic products were not adequately covered.¹

Tobacco as a dental health product that cleans and strengthens the teeth is a myth that has found great resonance in many groups in the United Kingdom and India. Manufacturers, homoeopaths, and herbalists who market smokeless tobacco exploit and misrepresent the myths of Ayurvedic therapies (Indian system from 2000 BC) by including tobacco within four main areas of their clinical metaphors: as a “cleanser” of the body system—builds immune system; as a “digestive aid”; as an “antiseptic” or cosmetic; and as a mouth freshener or dental health product.

Smokeless tobacco products now need to be targeted through a major amendment to the WHO framework convention treaty on tobacco if the oral health of many developing countries is to be protected and improved.² Swedish snus (a moist to semi-moist, ground, oral tobacco product) is now marketed as “less harmful” and messy than gutkha, which is sold and chewed traditionally.