The government will go ahead with its decision to implement a rule
requiring large pictorial warnings on tobacco products, said Amal Pushp,
director (tobacco) in the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW).
He
said that from 1 April, all tobacco products, including cigarettes, beedis and
non-smoking tobacco, will have to contain pictorial warning covering 85% of the
space on both sides of the packet.
“The
ministry has issued a notification in February and we will continue with it,”
said the official. Currently only 40% of the packet area is to be covered with
pictorial warnings.
Implementation
of the new rules came under doubt after a parliamentary committee recommended
earlier this month that the size should be increased to only 50%. Even though
the committee’s recommendations are not binding on the government, its timing
led to uncertainty regarding implementation of new rules.
The
ministry had approved new rules in October 2014, but could not implement them due
to strong opposition from the tobacco lobby. It was only on 19 February this
year that a notification was issued to tobacco manufacturers, distributors and
retailers to notify health warnings “covering 85% of the principle display
area.”
Doctors
for Tobacco Control in India (DFTCI), an umbrella organization of groups
advocating bigger pictorial warnings, wrote to health minister J.P. Nadda on 22
March, urging him to look into the matter after the parliamentary committee’s
intervention.
“It
is hugely disappointing to note that the Committee has repeatedly highlighted
the ‘economic significance of tobacco’ in India, even in wake of recent
evidence from a MoHFW report that treating tobacco related diseases costs India
Rs.104,500 crore rupees, which amounts to a whopping 1.16% of India’s GDP
(gross domestic product),” read the letter submitted by DFTCI.
Last
week, many international organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the
Nossal Institute of Global Health at the University of Melbourne, and World
Health Federation, wrote to the health minister with similar requests.
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