this law wil prevent this new bad habith to take its place in our society, I think its best we get rid of it before its too late. we shouldnt be comparing it to tobaco, and alchol instead we should be learning from their effect on our lives and do the right thing to save our future generration... This is a good bill.
Why didn't they include tobacco chewing, cigarette smoking and alcohol use along with the beetle-nut banning?
Health concerns were brought up regarding the use of beetlenut. Spitting and red stain all over the island. First off, almost everyday, everybody spit everywhere, whether it's beetlenut or not. There's an ordinance on spitting already in place. It's not being enforced.
Cancer Rate? Compare that with cigarette smoking, alcohol use and tobacco chewing. These should have been banned long time ago but ah, they need the revenue collected from these junks. If that's the case, regulate a tax law on importing beetlenut into the country, another revenue. Impose a law that is similar to "Smoking In Public Places". Penalize those who disobey, another revenue. This kind of law should be on the state level and not within the union itself. You boys have more important things to do. KALGOV has it's own law against beetlenut which is still in effect as we speak.
What happened to Freedom Of Choice, the right to choose? Are we all gonna vow for the ideas of just 2 lawmakers and not pursuing our rights as stated in the constituion? Article II on the bill of rights, we have been deprived of our right to choose, among other things.
Public hearings? Well, even if you argue, bill is still going to pass anyway. I say, waste of time.
BEETLENUT is all natural. The leave is just like the vegetables we eat. The nut is like the chewing coconut (konauwe). And the powder (lime) is made from coral. And we all know that coral is rich with calcium, another nutrition for the body, especially the bones and ur teeth. Also, it's not drug-related.
I don't see why the the biggest democratic country in the world (USA) has legalized beetle nut, but why us?
FYI: About 15% of smokers on island have switched to beetlenut. U really want them to switch back?
Boys, you just lost a couple more votes in this upcoming election.
It might be a bad habit to others, but not to us. Chewing beetlenut has been here (in the Pacific/South Asia, India, Persia, Thailand) for centuries. In Bali, 530 BCE, China, 150 BCE, way before smoking/tobacco chewing. No cancers have been reported so far.
** Correction: There was 1 reported in PNG, but this person was chewing beetlenut with tobacco leaves. Sorry, thanks......
Chew betlenut never exist in the marshall islands
until nowadays, its a new culture tha is welcome, but discourage in this bill.. this biil says that those respobsible chewers are allowed to import their own for personal consumption but noe for commercials... its okay if you're from a culture that chew to use it, but do not encourage the young marshallese who are not responsible chewer, and for whom will create health and enviorment effects in our society... betelnut plants dose not grow in the marshall islands, therefore dose not belong to the furue of the Islands..
So are cigarettes & alcohol if that's what you mean. No difference. What is your point? That clause for own consumption has also been omitted at the final stages before the hearing. Your saying health and environment problems, spitting to be more precise, read my post, people spit everyday everywhere, only difference is the color of the spit.
my point is pretty simple!... its better to be proactive then to be reactive.. that is the aim of this bill as far as lookin at it.
your statement fo people spitting everyday everywhere has no substance to it, the fact is majority of the youth in the marshall Islands are atticted to that substance therefore it create a bigger concern.,, its best act now before its too late and beacome another problem of the cigarettes, and the alchoal..
Sorry, I must have misread your comments but you're right. They should have impose a law on how and where to use it instead of the ban. It is the spit alright, they don't like the color of it everywhere.
FYI: It's the small chinese stores selling this to high school students.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the chewing of "betel nut" is a known human carcinogen. Regular chewers of betel leaf and nut have a higher risk of damaging their gums and acquiring cancer. They also found tobacco and caustic lime increase the risk of cancer from nut preparations.(http://www3.int...Y=1&SRETRY=0)
Hi LB, I did check the cancer rates for other tobacco products, however I did not think the information was relevant at the time since we are discussing betel nut only. The cancer risk factor for tobacco smoking is higher than the risk factor for betel nut chewing; People who smoke are 10 to 20 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung cancer than people who do not smoke. (http://www.cdc...._factors.htm)
The betel nut study (which I cited earlier) found that chewing the nut ALONE, without tobacco, still increases your risk factor for cancer and is also linked to oral submucous fibrosis. The study found that chewing WITH tobacco increased your risks of acquiring oral cancer by 9.9 times, and WITHOUT tobacco increased someone's oral cancer risk by 8.4 times. Personally, the difference of 1.5 between with and without tobacco doesn't seem to be that significant. The fact remains that the use of betel nut is correlated to a higher risk of acquiring cancer.
Personally, I don't mind betel nut chewing, as long as someone isn't dirty and inconsiderate about it. I have family members who use it. I think smoking is way more disgusting than chewing because at least you're not risking other people's lives with second hand smoke (which is often worse than smoking itself). But I say heck, if someone wants to risk the chance of acquiring cancer, it's well within your right to do so. We all have the freedom of choice.
What is also of concern when it comes to betel nut is the spitting.
During my last visit to Majuro I would see Taxi doors open and close in front of me. The first few times I wondered if they were having issues with the door and later realized they were spitting.
With TB and other diseases running rampant and all the kids running around barefoot the health concerns from spitting need to be addressed.
