AGO advise on betel nut advisory sought

Baffled over the legal definition of transporting betel nut locally and from outside places, the CNMI Food and Nutrition Council is seeking clarity to a pending issue stated under the Betel Nut Awareness Announcement.

The Council is planning to release the announcement to the community.

Chair Pamela Mathis said the Council is awaiting legal advise from the Attorney General’s Office on the lawful interpretation of transporting within the CNMI or other places betel nut for local consumption.

“The legal edit involving the statement on the transportation of betel nut of persons entering the Commonwealth has not been clarified yet,” Ms. Mathis told Council members during a meeting yesterday.

The Council conditionally approved the public advisory on the use of betel nut after adopting the medically-accepted term for the addictive plant.

The use of the term betel nut, according to Public Health Medical Director Dr. Farhana Habib, should always be followed by the word “quid.”

Betel nut quid is the appropriate term that describes the collective or individual use of betel nut, lime, pepper, or leaf. Dr. Habib added that betel nut quid with or without tobacco is Group I Carcinogen.

The council’s decision to issue a betel nut community awareness announcement is viewed by Ms. Mathis as a tremendous accomplishment.

“This is quite an accomplishment for the council considering this is such a sensitive issue in the community. Despite this we were still able to reach a consensus mindful that the use of betel nut quid involves certain health concerns,” said the council chair.

The revised and updated version of the public advisory is set to be distributed to the surrounding community once completed.

According to studies conducted, an estimated 300 million people chew betel nut quid in one or a variety of ways. Many people simply mix the nut with white-lime paste, wrap it in betel leaf and pop in the mouth for a satisfying crunch. Others, however, have started mixing it with cigarette or tobacco.

Health experts have long warned people about the dangers of betel nut chewing and mixing it with tobacco. Its combined use is considered equally harmful as tobacco use because it causes damage to the cells and genes. Betel nut use alone does carry cancer risks.

Betel nut and tobacco can cause leukoplakia which can lead to oral cancer. It occurs in over half of all users in the first three years of use.

But when the addictive plant, which has already cancer producing agents, is mixed with tobacco, the risks of having oral cancer increases 10 times.