New Delhi:
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan issued a notification requiring cigarette manufacturing companies to devote at least 85 percent of the surface areas of cigarette packets on both sides to graphically and literally represent the statutory warning.
Beginning April 1, 2015 every cigarette packet will carry on both sides pictorial depiction of throat cancer and a message in English, Hindi or any Indian language. “I have specified that 60 percent of the space must be devoted to a picture and 25 percent to the legend,” he said.
Dr Harsh Vardhan pointed out that the present guidelines did not satisfy anybody outside the tobacco industry. Manufacturers have the option to either devote 20 percent of each side of a packet or 40 percent on one side. This is clearly not enough, he stated.
The minister said, “Graphic health warnings using a mixture of pictures and words are part and parcel of every country’s policy on cigarette marketing. Many studies have established that the inclusion of larger and more noticeable health warnings on packages significantly impact life expectancy rates and lead to savings on medical costs.”
A gazette notification amending the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008 was issued on Wednesday. The minister said, “The war against tobacco consumption is very important for everybody to win. Not only are families being destroyed by the rising burden of oral, throat and lung cancer, but a disproportionate share of the country’s health expenditure is going towards tobacco’s effects.”
The total economic costs attributable to tobacco use from all diseases in India for people in the 35-69 age group was more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore in 2011 of which 16 percent was direct and 84 percent indirect cost. The cost of premature mortality was highest in the 40-44 age group for both men and women.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan issued a notification requiring cigarette manufacturing companies to devote at least 85 percent of the surface areas of cigarette packets on both sides to graphically and literally represent the statutory warning.
Beginning April 1, 2015 every cigarette packet will carry on both sides pictorial depiction of throat cancer and a message in English, Hindi or any Indian language. “I have specified that 60 percent of the space must be devoted to a picture and 25 percent to the legend,” he said.
Dr Harsh Vardhan pointed out that the present guidelines did not satisfy anybody outside the tobacco industry. Manufacturers have the option to either devote 20 percent of each side of a packet or 40 percent on one side. This is clearly not enough, he stated.
The minister said, “Graphic health warnings using a mixture of pictures and words are part and parcel of every country’s policy on cigarette marketing. Many studies have established that the inclusion of larger and more noticeable health warnings on packages significantly impact life expectancy rates and lead to savings on medical costs.”
A gazette notification amending the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008 was issued on Wednesday. The minister said, “The war against tobacco consumption is very important for everybody to win. Not only are families being destroyed by the rising burden of oral, throat and lung cancer, but a disproportionate share of the country’s health expenditure is going towards tobacco’s effects.”
The total economic costs attributable to tobacco use from all diseases in India for people in the 35-69 age group was more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore in 2011 of which 16 percent was direct and 84 percent indirect cost. The cost of premature mortality was highest in the 40-44 age group for both men and women.
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