NATA butts out purported ayurvedic cigarette

Responding to reports on social media on an ayurvedic cigarette coming into the market, National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Chairman Dr. Samadhi Rajapakse told the Daily FT that his office had written to the manufacturer of this product and requested him to halt the production and promotion of the product, as it is a violation of the NATA act. 

Dr. Rajapakse said that the law does not allow for the production or promotion of any product similar to a cigarette, even without tobacco, and expressed his disappointment that such a cigarette had been conceived and if any approvals had been given. Pointing to branding which said the said cinnamon-based cigarette is an ayurvedic product, NATA had also written to the Department of Ayurvedic Medicine querying if this product had come to them for any such approval. 

The NATA Chairman exclaimed that the branding and brand name had been designed to relate to popular cigarette brands in Sri Lanka, and added that the prevalence of such products can serve as a gateway for youngsters to taking up smoking, and condemned the attempt to launch this product.