Stop paan sales now, stop the stains

Brent is working with the Government to call for an urgent ban on the sale of paan products containing tobacco or betel nut. Councils have reached the limit of what they can achieve through local enforcement alone.  

In a letter sent yesterday the council set out the scale of harm caused by paan chewing and spitting, from rising cancer rates to significant damage to town centres and the growth of illegal tobacco supply chains.

Paan, a mixture of betel leaf, herbs and spices, often combined with tobacco or betel nut, is chewed for its narcotic effect and then spat out. Its use in Brent has become increasingly visible, with blood-red staining routinely appearing across pavements and shopfronts in areas such as Wembley and Ealing Road, costing the council tens of thousands of pounds a year to clean up and leaving lasting damage to roads in the borough.

The council’s letter which was sent to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention and the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection, highlighted the severe public health impact. While England sees around 16 cases of head and neck cancer per 100,000 people, Brent experiences over 90 cases per 100,000, making the borough one of the worst affected areas in the country. Chewing paan that contains tobacco or betel nut significantly raises the risk of oral, oesophageal and head and neck cancers, and betel nut is internationally recognised as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Public Realm and Enforcement, said: “This is not about targeting communities, it is about dealing with individual actions that let us all down. When our streets are spat on and our pavements are stained, public health is put at risk and when criminal supply chains are allowed to thrive, it is our residents who pay the price.

“We have expanded enforcement, stepped up street cleaning and used every legal tool we have, but the reality is that councils cannot close national loopholes on their own. That is why the law needs to change - simply put, a product that causes such serious harm simply should not be legally sold on our high streets.”

Cllr Neil Nerva, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Leisure, said: “The public health picture in Brent is stark. You are over five times more likely to develop head and neck cancer here than the national average, and chewing paan is a major driver of that risk. This is costing lives and putting huge pressure on the NHS. If you want to quit tobacco, paan or smoking, our fantastic services are here to help, support is free, confidential and available to every resident who wants to change their lives.”