Campco Chairman SR Satishchandra Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Central Areca and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd has urged the Government of India not to allow international agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) to impose or take a decision on banning betel nut until India’s own scientific research in this regard is completed.
This follows the classification of betel nut as carcinogenic by WHO-IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer).
Campco president SR Satishchandra, who has written to various ministries including health and agriculture, said the WHO move has caused serious distress among farmers and will have far-reaching socio-economic implications.
“This classification, as has been widely noted, is largely derived from studies examining chewing preparations such as betel nut, gutkha and pan masala, which contain tobacco and other additives rather than betel nut in its natural or traditional form,” he said.
inconsistency in classification
Highlighting the apparent inconsistency in the current IARC classification, he said betel nut is placed under Group 1 (‘carcinogenic to humans’), while one of the major components of betel nut, arecoline, is classified under Group 2B (‘probably carcinogenic to humans’).
“Such contradictions underline the need for more rigorous, India-specific scientific investigation before any policy-level conclusions can be reached,” he said.
WHO’s South-East Asia Regional Office is organizing a webinar titled ‘The betel nut challenge: transforming policy into impact in South-East Asia’ later this month. He said that this webinar is a continuation of the discussions following the announcement made in Sri Lanka in October 2025, where control measures related to tobacco as well as the use of betel nut were discussed. The proposed webinar appears to focus on modalities of policy implementation and transition related to betel nut.
indian scientific studies
Noting that the Central Government has already initiated a comprehensive national level research program on betel nut, involving 11 reputed agencies and institutions of national importance, to scientifically investigate its health effects, he said this research program is expected to take at least 18 more months to reach definite conclusions. ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) is leading this research.
They urged the Government to engage with WHO-IARC to ensure that no final conclusions or policy recommendations are made regarding betel nut use until ongoing national research is completed and scientifically evaluated.
They asked for help from the government to engage with WHO-IARC and recommended reconsidering the reclassification of betel nuts from Group 1 to Group 2, at least as an interim measure, until the completion of a government-led national research programme.
He said, “Any premature policy decision without conclusive scientific evidence could have serious socio-economic consequences, destabilizing the livelihoods of millions of farmers and adversely impacting the rural economy. We therefore seek your leadership and intervention to ensure India’s position is firmly represented while balancing public health priorities with scientific evidence, cultural context and farmer livelihoods.”
importance of betel nut
Saying that betel nut holds an important place in the religious, social and cultural traditions of India and has been referenced in Ayurvedic literature including Charaka Samhita for centuries, he said India is the largest producer of betel nut globally, and its cultivation supports the livelihood of about 2 crore people through farming and allied activities in 11 states including Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Assam.
Before the launch of the national level scientific study on betel nut, in a meeting with the central government, Balachandra Hebbar, director of ICAR-CPCRI (Central Plantation Crops Research Institute), had mentioned that CPCRI in collaboration with JIPMER (Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research) had reviewed the literature and found several flaws in the consistency of the effects of betel nut on human health during the study.
He said the study focused on betel nut chewing with substances such as tobacco, catechu, betel nut, slaked lime and flavor enhancers rather than betel nut alone.
Many scientific studies published in the literature have used high amounts of active ingredients, several hundred times higher than what people typically consume.
He said the epidemiological study did not consider only betel nut chewers.
In contrast, he said that arecoline (which is one of the major components of betel nut) shows anti-cancer effects in its lower concentrations. He also said that betel nut extract is now being actively studied in research on Alzheimer’s disease because of its psychoactive properties.
Published on January 26, 2026
