India Banned E-Cigarettes — But Beedis And Chewing Tobacco Remain Widespread
India is the world's top consumer of smokeless tobacco — and has the world's highest number of oral cavity cancers.
At a tiny kiosk on a Mumbai lane choked with rickshaws, Chandrabhaan Chaurasia is selling paan – betel leaves sprinkled with spices. They're a cheap street snack across South Asia.
Chaurasia, 51, spreads a leaf with spicy herbal paste and then sprinkles it with dried tobacco. He folds the leaf into an edible little parcel, and sells it for 8 rupees — about $0.11. He also sells single-serving packs of chewing tobacco. Another kiosk nearby sells hand-rolled leaf cigarettes, called beedis.
India banned electronic cigarettes last month. With about , India has the second-largest smoking population in the world, after China. Amid global reports of , India decided to
