India to use scarier yet banal pictorial warnings on tobacco products

Starting September 2018, all tobacco products will have scarier pictorial warnings and new grimmer written messages. And for the first time, toll-free telephone numbers will be displayed on packets to help people who want to quit. The graphic warnings will have less effects as they will highlight the same theme of oral cancer. Contrary to … Continue reading India to use scarier yet banal pictorial warnings on tobacco products

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Sale of tobacco products in India only through licensed shops

Selling tobacco products through licensed shops will prevent mushrooming of outlets selling tobacco products and shrewd marketing of tobacco products to kids. In a body blow to tobacco companies, the Health Ministry is tightening the screws on marketing tobacco products to children. As part of the regulation of sale, the Ministry has asked all the … Continue reading Sale of tobacco products in India only through licensed shops

Let larger pictorial warnings stay

Nearly one million tobacco-related deaths take place in India every year, and in 2011, the total health expenditure burden from all diseases due to tobacco use amounted to more than Rs.1,00,000 crore, which is 12 per cent more than the combined State and Central government expenditure on health in 2011-12. The revenue earned through tobacco … Continue reading Let larger pictorial warnings stay

Parliamentary committee recommends smaller pictorial warnings

Health Ministry's plan to introduce pictorial warnings covering 85 per cent of the display area on the front and back sides of tobacco products from April 1, 2016 has hit a major roadblock. - Photo: R. Prasad Two weeks before pictorial warnings covering 85 per cent of the principal display area of the front and … Continue reading Parliamentary committee recommends smaller pictorial warnings

Tobacco excise duty increase lowest in the last five years

The continuation of differential taxes based on filter or non-filter and four different tiers based on cigarette lengths defeats the very purpose of increased tobacco taxation The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the excise duties on various tobacco products other than beedi were being increased by 10-15 per cent. This according to him was “to … Continue reading Tobacco excise duty increase lowest in the last five years

Sounding the smoke alarm on sale of tobacco to minors

Thanks to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, tobacco companies in India may find it hard to lure children below the age of 18 into the tobacco habit. According to the Act, anyone who sells these products to underage children will face rigorous imprisonment up to seven years and a fine … Continue reading Sounding the smoke alarm on sale of tobacco to minors

Editorial: This tobacco warning should stay

Following a controversy sparked recently over remarks by some Members of Parliament on tobacco use, a group of leading film-makers is seeking to dilute the strong tobacco control measures undertaken by successive governments. The film-makers have made a representation to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to withdraw the stipulation that cinemas run a warning scroll … Continue reading Editorial: This tobacco warning should stay

A pictorial warning must shock

What is the connection between a scorpion, tobacco and cancer? Well, absolutely nothing. If any, it is the crab that is an international symbol of cancer. Yet, the previous government chose the scorpion as one of the pictorial warnings on tobacco products! Though the current controversy on pictorial warnings has finally boiled down to the … Continue reading A pictorial warning must shock

Smokers die 10 years sooner

That smoking can cause up to two-thirds of deaths in current smokers in Australia has come out patently clear in a study of over 2,00,000 individuals aged over 45 years sampled from the general population of New South Wales. The Sax Institute’s 45 and Up study results were published on February 24 in the journal … Continue reading Smokers die 10 years sooner

Editorial: Discouraging cigarette sales

f cigarettes in the loose, and raise the minimum age from 18 to 21 for the sale of tobacco products, clearly reflects the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s steely determination to wage an all-out war against tobacco consumption. These are commendable initiatives that would go a long way in preventing children from taking up … Continue reading Editorial: Discouraging cigarette sales