The e-cigarettes makers have been following the time-tested machinations of the big tobacco companies to a tee. Using flavours is just one of the many strategies that e-cigarette makers have resorted to. The tide is now slowly turning. Lack of vaping-related illness during the last 10 years that electronic cigarettes have increasingly been used has … Continue reading To enslave youth, E-cigarettes use time-tested machinations of big tobacco
Cigarettes
Explainer: Why India is banning e-cigarettes
Unlike in the case of cigarette smoking the actual and full-scale adverse health effects are not yet know. But much like traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes too deliver ultrafine particles and nicotine deep into the lungs, where they get absorbed by the blood. On September 18, the Union Cabinet approved the promulgation of the Prohibition of Electronic … Continue reading Explainer: Why India is banning e-cigarettes
Pictorial warning: Will public health override free speech in the U.S?
It is an irony that a country that introduced text health warnings in 1966 and updated it in 1984 to include the Surgeon General’s warning, cigarettes packages in the U.S still do not carry pictorial warnings. Ten years after the Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, on August 15 this year, … Continue reading Pictorial warning: Will public health override free speech in the U.S?
‘Tobacco products become affordable after GST’
The final price of cigarettes increases by only 0.18%. In the case of bidi and smokeless tobacco, the final price hike is 8.8% (about Rs. 1.30 per pack of 25 sticks) and 6%, respectively. With the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) in 2017, all tobacco products — cigarettes, bidis and smokeless — … Continue reading ‘Tobacco products become affordable after GST’
India should soon introduce plain packaging
Besides Australia, France, UK. Norway, Ireland, New Zealand and Hungary have introduced plain packaging of tobacco products. Plain packaging was will be introduced in Uruguay and Slovenia in 2019 and 2020 respectively, and is under process or being considered in 14 more countries. With the WTO clearing the last hurdle by favouring plain packaging, India should … Continue reading India should soon introduce plain packaging
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
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
FDA wants to prevent smoking addiction by limiting nicotine in cigarettes
Lower nicotine content in cigarettes is an idea whose time has come. On July 28, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration struck panic among tobacco companies by announcing a comprehensive proposal to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels. The level of nicotine that would be required to render cigarettes “non-addictive” … Continue reading FDA wants to prevent smoking addiction by limiting nicotine in cigarettes
Get ready for plain packaging of tobacco products
Following Australia’s example, for this year's World No Tobacco Day on May 31 the World Health Organisation is calling on countries to “get ready for plain packaging of tobacco products”. Plain packaging refers to “measures to restrict or prohibit the use of logos, colours, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than brand names … Continue reading Get ready for plain packaging of tobacco products
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