Days after the Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation examining the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 in its final report suggested the government to reduce the
Days after the Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation examining the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 in its final report suggested the government to reduce the size of warnings on tobacco products to 50 per cent as against 85 per cent, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday urged India to implement “larger” pictorial warnings.
Calling the current debate on reducing the size of pack warnings especially on beedis and smokeless tobacco in India “worrisome”, WHO’s India representative Henk Bekedam said that any reduction in size of pack warnings will be a great “setback” for public health in the region as neighbouring countries, including Nepal (90%), Thailand (85%), Pakistan (85%), Sri Lanka (80%) and most recently Myanmar (75%) have overcome similar challenges and notified large pictorial warnings.
“The current debate on reducing the size of warnings, especially on beedis and smokeless tobacco is worrisome, especially because large and prominent health warnings have shown to be a cost-effective means of increasing public awareness of the health effects of tobacco use and in reducing tobacco consumption,” he said.
The government had last year deferred the implementation of new rules after the panel sought time to assess how the industry would be impacted. However, in their final report tabled few days back, the committee suggested the government to curtail the warnings to 50 per cent on cigarette packs, recommending to “re-consider” their decision to cover beedi industry under the amended rules.
Significantly, along with large graphic pack warning, Mr Bedekam said that “tobacco taxation” is a recognised cost-effective and evidence-based population level strategy to reduce tobacco use.
“Both these measures are easy to implement, with no cost to the government. Tobacco taxation as a fiscal policy is a ‘win-win’ situation. It not only increases revenue generation, it also reduces the consumption of tobacco, especially for the young and poor,” he added.
Citing that these measures will uphold India’s position as a global leader in health, Mr Bedekam said, “Today as India stands on the threshold of hosting the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7) in November 2016, implementation of the 85% pictorial health warnings on both sides of all tobacco packs and the development of a comprehensive tax policy for tobacco products will uphold India’s position as a global leader in health and save precious lives”.
