NEW DELHI: The government's decision to implement 85% pictorial warning on packs of all tobacco products seems to have gone well with manufacturers of such products if findings of a latest study conducted by Voluntary Health Association of India are to be believed. The nationwide study shows over 60% packs of cigarette and 46% of smokeless tobacco are complying with the Centre's mandated
85% pictorial warning requirements. In Delhi, 54% of the cigarette packs and 55% of smokeless tobacco packs were fully compliant with all the labeling requirements mandated under the law, the findings show.
This comes in the wake of tobacco companies claiming the new warnings are not "feasible".
"Even though some tobacco companies are opposing in implementing the new health warnings on tobacco products, the study results show implementing 85 percent pictorial warnings on tobacco products is possible/practical and tobacco companies are abiding by the law," Bhavna B Mukhopadhyay, Chief Executive, Voluntary Health Association of India said urging the government to strictly enforce the new rules. She added health warnings on tobacco packages are a "direct, cost-effective" means of communication to inform the health risks of tobacco consumption to the consumers, new users and illiterate.
The data was collected during June-July, two months after implementation of the new rules on April 1 this year in eight states - Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
Tobacco-related diseases kill about 2,500 Indians daily and over 10 lakh every year and it is estimated that about 5,500 youth and children initiate tobacco use daily while India has 12 crore tobacco users, according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey.
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