Karnataka govt asks private institute to study areca nut's effect on health

Belagavi: The Karnataka government has assigned a private institute to study the effect of Arecanut on health, state Horticulture Minister S S Mallikarjun said on Monday.

He was replying to a question raised in the assembly by BJP MLA Araga Jnanendra on the steps taken by the government to negate a WHO report which said Arecanut causes oral cancer.

A new study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and its associates said the smokeless tobacco and areca nut use contribute to oral cancer.

“In 2022, more than 120 000 cases of oral cancer were caused by these risk factors, accounting for one third of oral cancer cases globally. The analysis, published today in The Lancet Oncology, highlights that nearly 9 in 10 (88%) of all oral cancer cases caused by smokeless tobacco and areca nut use occurred in South-Central Asia and more than 95% (96.4%) occurred in low- and middle-income countries,” the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a unit of WHO, said in its October 9 report.

Jnanendra said arecanut growers panicked as Karnataka is the largest arecanut grower in the country.

In reply, the Minister said the Ramaiah Institute has been assigned to do a study on Arecanut.

Mallikarjun said the IARC has taken the samples of Gutkha in which tobacco is mixed, which is widely consumed.

He opined that Arecanut per se may not have such effect.

The minister also asked the BJP legislators to get the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute on board to negate the IARC report.