Smokefree workplaces linked to smokefree homes in India

Adults in India are substantially more likely to abstain from smoking at home if they are prohibited from smoking at work, according to a study published in Tobacco Control - an international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and others in tobacco control.

The percentage of respondents employed indoors (outside the home) working in smoke-free environments who lived in a smoke-free home was 64.0% compared with 41.7% of those who worked where smoking occurred. Indian states with higher proportions of smoke-free workplaces had higher proportions of smoke-free homes. In the individual-level analysis, working in a smoke-free workplace was associated with a significantly higher likelihood of living in a smoke-free home.

The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), say the findings suggest that the implementation of smokefree legislation in India may have resulted in substantial health benefits for the population, particularly for women and children.

“This study suggests that, in India, there is good evidence that smokefree laws in workplaces are associated with a reduction in second-hand smoke at home,” said Dr John Tayu Lee, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, who led the study.

“The results support the idea of ‘norm spreading’, whereby restrictions on smoking in public places make it seem less acceptable to expose others to second-hand smoke more generally, including at home,” said Dr Christopher Millett, from the School of Public Health at Imperial. “They highlight the importance of accelerating the implementation of smokefree legislation more widely in India.” Dr Millett is also a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at PHFI.

"Achieving sustained and equitable reductions in SHS exposure is a high public health priority for India. Our findings highlight the importance of accelerating the implementation of existing national tobacco control legislation on smoke-free public places (Section 4 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003) building on earlier successes in achieving smoke-free environments," the study notes. 

The study can be downloaded here

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Call for bigger health warnings on tobacco product packs

Concerned over the growing tobacco menace in India, health organisations from across the world have asked the Indian Government to oversee new warning labels on tobacco packets.

Tobacco products like cigarettes and gutkas will have more prominent health risk warnings from April 1 this year. 

“Similar health warnings were first proposed in 2006 and they were vigorously opposed in and out of courts by the tobacco industry.

"The Government of India persevered until announcing the new measures last year. The tobacco industry will certainly object to the warnings, just as it does in other countries. 

"We recommend that the tobacco industry simply be ignored and that priority be given to the health of the Indian population,” wrote Laurent Huber, director of Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), Switzerland. 

“If countries such as Nepal, Thailand, Australia and Uruguay can implement similar size warnings (80-90 per cent), there is no reason why India cannot. 

"The FCA also notes that in India, the new warnings will apply to tobacco products generally and not just cigarettes. This is essential, given the diversity of tobacco products in Indian market,” he added. 

Various international public health organisations working on tobacco control and cancer have individually written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on the new tobacco package issue. 

“The large and improved warnings on tobacco packs serve as a no-cost and proven mass education tool that can protect the health of our people... The best evidence of their efficacy lies in the tobacco industry’s opposition to the warnings. 

"The Government needs to prioritise the nation’s health over narrow commercial interests,” said Shoba John, Health Bridge programme director. 

Former Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had on October 15, 2014, issued a notification requiring tobacco manufacturing firms to devote at least 85 per cent of the surface areas of all tobacco products on both sides to graphically and literally represent the statutory warning. 

“Awareness has increased gradually regarding the harmful effects of tobacco. This decision will further help,” said Dr Jagdish Kaur, Chief Medical Officer at the Union health ministry, adding: “Industries have been given enough time to prepare new stocks.” 

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Higher cigarette taxes bring down sales

Higher excise duty on cigarettes announced in the Union Budget last year and increases in value-added tax by Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam has resulted in a below-par performance in the quarter ending December 2014, tobacco giant ITC has said. 

"The cigarette segment revenue, as a consequence, remained flattish during the quarter," ITC said.

ITC reported a net profit growth of 10.4 per cent at Rs 2,635 crore in the December quarter against Rs 2,385 crore in the year-ago period, according to a story in the Business Standard on 22 January 2015. 

The below-par performance was a consequence of slow growth in the cigarette business. Revenue in ITC's cigarette segment grew 0.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,142 crore. 

The Union Government in the 2014-15 Budget raised specific excise duty on cigarettes in the range of 11 to 72 per cent.

Kerala Government raised taxes of cigarettes by fifty per cent during the fiscal year 2014-15. From 20 per cent in 2013-14, cigarette taxes were raised to 22 per cent in the Kerala Budget 2014-15. In a mid-term post Budget revision, cigarette taxes were raised from 22 to 30 per cent in September 2014. 

Tobacco kills one million Indians every year and drains away Rs 104,500 crores as direct and indirect costs of treatment. 

The World Health Organisation has stated that increasing tobacco taxes is the most effective way to reduce consumption and save lives. It can also bring in much-needed resources to cash-starved economies. 

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