India to host international summit on tobacco-control

India will host a crucial global summit in November to eliminate the illicit trade of tobacco products in which delegates from 180 countries will take part. 

"India is hosting the 7th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC)," Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

She said the summit scheduled from November 7-12 at the Indian Exposition Mart in Noida will aim "to eliminate illicit trade of tobacco products." 

About 1,000-1,500 delegates from 180 countries along with observers in official relations with the WHO FCTC are expected to participate in the summit, Patel said. 

"India has ratified FCTC in 2004 and is a party to it." 

Patel, however, said that no decision has been taken yet on the composition of the Indian delegation for the event. 

Replying to another question, she said according to the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Cancer Registry data, the estimated number of cancer cases in the country stood at 14.5 lakh in 2016. 

Based on this report, the percentage of tobacco-related cancers is 43.8 among males, 16.0 among females and 30.1 of the population as a whole, she said. 

Patel said generating awareness on harmful effects of tobacco use is the key national and state-level activity under the National Tobacco Control Programme.

Source: Business Standard

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Teens switching to bidis: Report

Nineteen per cent boys and eight per cent girls in the age group of 13-15 have used tobacco products in recent months, mostly in the form of non-commercially produced cigarettes such as bidis, hand-rolled cigarettes made of unprocessed tobacco wrapped in leaves, said a report.

According to the report by the Population Reference Bureau, the usage of such products has prevailed because they are relatively affordable, poorly regulated and easily obtained from street vendors and kiosks.

"Smokeless tobacco products and snuff are commonly used in some places are used more than cigarettes.The rising popularity of e-cigarettes is another concern, as these do not produce tobacco smoke but may still contain nicotine and other harmful substances. These devices are marketed to youth and are easily available online," said the report.

"Myriad varieties in which tobacco is available in Asia, makes tobacco a very versatile product for adolescent and young people. Easy access to unregulated products like e-cigarettes and hukkah further exacerbates their vulnerability, said Monika Arora, Director, Health Promotion Division and Associate Professor, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).

According to Arora, India needs to step up enforcement of tobacco control policies to provide full protection to young people and introduce innovative prevention and cessation solutions to meet one of the NCD targets of 30 per cent reduction in tobacco use prevalence by 2025 that the country has adopted.

The report named "Addressing Non Communicable Disease Risk Factors Among Young People: Asia's Window of Opportunity to Curb a Growing Epidemic" also poured light on the four main Non Communicable Diseases- cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and cancers -- are caused primarily by exposure to tobacco, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet, and too little exercise.

These behaviours often begin in adolescence or young adulthood and set the stage for NCDs later in life.

Source: Times of India

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Pictorial warnings more effective, says study

A study published in a medical journal finds that pictorial warnings are more effective than text-only messages in tobacco products. The study, which had more than 2,000 respondents, was done to gauge the perceived effectiveness of text and pictorial health warnings for smokeless tobacco packages and was conducted in Navi Mumbai and Dhaka.

The experimental study by Tobacco Control, an international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and others, involved adult smokeless tobacco users aged over 19 and non-users. During the study, the respondents viewed warnings depicting five health effects in text-only, symbolic pictorial, graphical pictorial and personal testimonials formats.

"We have found that text-only warning were perceived as less effective than the pictorial styles. Graphic warnings were given higher effectiveness ratings than symbolic or testimonial warnings," said PC Gupta, Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, one of the co-authors.

Interestingly, WHO has been advocating countries to adopt plain packaging with pictorial warnings to reduce tobacco consumption across the world. It had taken it up as a theme for 'World No Tobacco Day'.

This idea was successfully implemented by Australia in 2012 and, according to WHO, it has shown positive results. Presently, in India, pictorial warning is compulsory on 85% of the packet.

"Tobacco is the only consumer product that has no good use whatsoever apart of killing every third consumer. Tobacco is attributable cause of 50% cancers in India and majority of lung or heart diseases. Pictorial warnings is very effective and plain packaging is the need of the hour," said Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, professor, head and neck surgeon, Tata Memorial Hospital.

According to WHO, the plain packaging is an important demand reduction measure that lessens the attractiveness of tobacco products, restricts the use of packaging as a form of tobacco advertising and promotion, limits misleading packaging and labelling, and increases the effectiveness of health warnings.

India is ranked at 136 among 198 countries in terms of prominence of pictorial health warnings on tobacco packaging and is ranked much below countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand etc., having higher proportion of pack warnings on the principal display areas of the tobacco packs.

Health experts also say that apart from emphasising on plain packaging with pictorial warnings on tobacco products, there should also be a robust tobacco cessation programmes. "90% of the people are aware that tobacco is harmful but they do not know how to quit it. We need a robust tobacco cessation programs in our government hospitals. In abroad, many countries like South Korea and Japan have started tobacco cessation programs to help their citizens quit tobacco," said Dr Lancelot Pinto, consultant respirologist at Hinduja Hospital.

What is plain packaging?

A generic, standardised or homogeneous packaging, refers to packaging that requires the removal of all branding (colour, imagery, corporate logo and trademarks). Permitting manufacturers to print only the brand name in a mandated size, font and place on the pack, in addition to the health warnings and any other legally mandated information such as toxic constituents and tax-paid stamp.

Source: DNA

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