SENATE Floor Leader Corina L. Magofna on Monday pre-filed Senate Bill 23-54, which would regulate lime or afok or bweesch under the Pure Food and Drug Control Act.
According to the bill, lime is a substance created from burning limestone in rock form, which is then transformed into powder and mixed with betel nut.
S.B. 23-54 would prohibit the sale of lime that is not labeled. It would require that lime, including those imported, must have a label indicating the name of the manufacturing company, the distributor, the place of manufacture, the ingredients, and a warning that states, “This product may be linked to oral cancer.”
The bill would also require that a lime container is properly packaged and sealed with an unbroken seal.
It would include lime on the list of items that the Pure Food and Drug Control Act prohibits due to the following conditions:
1) Has in or on it any poisonous or harmful substance.
2) Is unfit for human consumption.
3) Consists in whole or in part, of any filthy, putrid, disgusting, rotten, decomposed or diseased animal or vegetable substance.
4) Is adulterated.
5) Was manufactured, prepared, preserved, packaged, distributed or stored under unsanitary conditions.
6) Contains wholly or in part the flesh of cats or dogs.
If enacted into law, S.B. 23-54 would impose a $500 fine and 90 days imprisonment on violators upon first conviction; and a $2,000 fine and not more than one year imprisonment upon the second conviction of the same offense.
Noting that health clinics throughout the region continue to research and investigate the effects of lime on humans, the bill stated “it is necessary to protect the people until concrete studies are conducted pertaining to lime and its link to oral cancer.”
