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Bill seeks to regulate lime production
A bill introduced by Sen. Teresita A. Santos (R-Rota) seeks to regulate the manufacture of lime, an ingredient in betel nut chew.
Santos said Senate Bill 19-37 also seeks to include lime—locally known as afok—into certain sections of the CNMI’s existing laws on food and drug control.
Santos
Santos said the ingredients in manufacturing lime have changed over time. It is traditionally produced using coral.
The inception of Public Law 3-47 gave the Coastal Resource Management the authority to oversee and protect all coastal resources including coral. “As a result, the harvesting of corals to manufacture and produce afok or bweesch for personal and commercial use was eventually restricted,” the bill said.
The bill also stated that “although afok or bweesch may not have a direct link to oral cancer or other deadly diseases, there is a great need to protect the people until concrete studies are done pertaining to afok and its link to oral cancer.”
Santos’ proposed legislation comes after several lawmakers said they are eyeing the idea of drafting a bill that will mandate stricter policies on betel nut chewing.
This comes after several members of the 19th House of Representatives attended the recent Oral Cancer Health Forum during which attendees called for legislation against betel nut chewing.
Reps. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan), Blas Jonathan “B.J.” Attao (Ind-Saipan), Ed Propst (Ind-Saipan), and Anthony Benavente (Ind-Saipan) agreed that drafting legislation against betel nut chewing might be a good proposition for the CNMI.
However, they aren’t looking to ban betel nut chewing altogether.
Benavente and Attao said that taxing betel nut, creating violation fees, and other policies that may be similar to Public Law 16-46 or the Smoke-Free Air Act of 2008 may help cut down on chewing betel nut.
