Bombay High Court, on Thursday, suggested that the sale of cigarettes and bidis may be banned during the pandemic, taking into consideration the affect COVID-19 has on lungs of those infected.
The court sought the response from the Centre and state government over the issue. It has also sought the data of COVID-19 patients who are habitual smokers.
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“We are equally concerned as to whether the persons who are affected by COVID-19 and have become critical are persons smoking cigarettes and bidis, as it is by now well-known that the COVID-19 virus affects the lungs and weak lungs are affected more severely,” the Bombay high court noted, while hearing a PIL on COVID-19 management, reports Indian Express.
A study by scientists from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in May last year suggested that cigarette smoke spurs the lungs to make more ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2), the protein that the virus grabs and uses to enter human cells.
The court observed that there was no information from either Centre or state government on effect of the pandemic on smokers. "If this is an issue which would matter and is fatal to the health of the citizens, we are of the opinion that measures would be required to be taken to ban sale of cigarettes and bidis during the pandemic time,” noted a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish S Kulkarni responding to a PIL filed by a Mumbai-based lawyer.
