{"id":6338,"date":"2010-01-31T23:05:07","date_gmt":"2010-01-31T15:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/?p=6338"},"modified":"2010-01-31T23:05:07","modified_gmt":"2010-01-31T15:05:07","slug":"pan-masala-addiction-among-school-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/borninmalaysia\/2010\/01\/31\/pan-masala-addiction-among-school-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Pan Masala addiction among school students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Parents,NGOs, and teachers need to be aware of this <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nst.com.my\/Current_News\/NST\/articles\/09mas\/Article\/index_html\" target=\"_blank\">new problem<\/a><\/strong>. Carcinogen are chemicals that can cause cancer!<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">KUALA LUMPUR: A snack packed in attractive sachets is becoming a hot favourite among schoolchildren and youths.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some of them were also said to be addicted to the titbit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But little do they know that the &#8220;sweet biscuits&#8221; are a sweetened mixture of tobacco, betel and catechu.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Recently, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had warned schoolchildren and youth against buying the paan parag pan masala, also known locally as &#8220;guthka&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said he had been informed that guthka was very addictive and contained carcinogens.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;I had received a lot of complaints from parents since late last year that their children were becoming addicted to this product.<br \/>\n&#8220;It is sold openly outside school compounds and in retail shops,&#8221; he told the New Straits Times.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He said pan masala was a mixture of nuts, seeds, herbs and spices which was usually served after meals in India.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;Various versions of pan masala are also found as mouth fresheners in the Middle East and parts of Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;One version of pan masala, that is the guthka, has tobacco as one of its ingredients,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Consumption of this product is said to have reached dangerous levels in India.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;I must warn that chewing tobacco has been linked with various cancers, especially mouth cancers,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although the product was used by many as a mouth freshener, Liow said it was not meant for schoolchildren and college students.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Health enforcement officers in all states had been ordered to go on the ground and nab those selling them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">While those who bought the product could be slapped with a RM1,000 fine, those who were caught selling it would be charged under the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations 2004, where they are liable to a fine of RM10,000 or two years&#8217; jail.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parents,NGOs, and teachers need to be aware of this new problem. Carcinogen are chemicals that can cause cancer! KUALA LUMPUR: A snack packed in attractive sachets is becoming a hot favourite among schoolchildren and youths. Some of them were also said to be addicted to the titbit. But little do they know that the &#8220;sweet [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[117,19],"class_list":["post-6338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-borninmalaysia","tag-crime","tag-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6342,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6338\/revisions\/6342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}