Gore on cigarette pack, fine

This would surely bring a smile to the face of Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss.

Gore on cigarette pack, fine

This would surely bring a smile to the face of Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss.

After the Delhi High Court declared that on-screen smoking was not against the law, a recent survey suggests that an overwhelming majority is actually on the side of the Minister.

Gory pictures of a foot afflicted by gangrene, mouth cancer wounds and a foetus covered in blood would soon be on each cigarette pack discouraging smokers from having a puff. And the people are happy about it, according to a survey.

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Ninety-nine per cent of the respondents supported larger, more effective pictorial warnings on bidi (sticks made out of betel leaves) packets and other tobacco products. They disagreed with the government dilly dallying over the issue and demanded immediate implementation of the pictorial warnings on cigarette and bidi packs.

Near unanimous support was found in each city, with 100 per cent polled in Mumbai, 97 per cent in Delhi and 98 per cent each in Chennai and Kolkata agreeing that the government should make it mandatory for the manufacturers to put a warning label on packs of bidis.

"By next year smoking will cause about 930,000 adult deaths in India each year, up from about 700,000 deaths per year in 2004," said Dr P. C. Gupta of the Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, which conducted the survey. "Clearly the tobacco epidemic is growing quickly, but it can be controlled if the government steps in to protect the people."

As stipulated by the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, the Ministry of Health had planned to implement large, pictorial warnings on all tobacco products including 'bidis' by February, 2007.

Pictorial warnings are an effective tool internationally to combat tobacco addiction.

Around 17 countries including Brazil, Australia, Canada, Chile, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Uruguay, Venezuela and a number of other developed nations have introduced picture-based warnings and many of them have gorier images on the packs.

However, the plan has run into hurdles particularly with the tobacco producers lobbies and the provision of implementing pictorial warnings has been delayed.

A senior official of ITC said, "tobacco industry is trying to hold the decision of gory pictorial warning as it would affect the sale moreover the cost of printing of such packets are much higher."

"The decisions to delay implementation of the health warnings - and the non-transparent nature of the process - are completely unacceptable," said Bhavna B Mukhopadhyay, Senior Director, Voluntary Health Association of India.

The key highlights of the poll areu00a0
98% of Indians participating in the poll support health warnings on bidis
99% support larger, more effective pictorial warnings on all tobacco products
73% disagree with Government's decision to delay stronger health warnings on tobacco products

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