Replacing the existing images on tobacco products, the Union Health Ministry has now released a new set of pictorial health warnings that are to be displayed on both sides of packets of cigarettes, bidis, and chewing tobacco with effect from September 1, 2018.
The ministry has also for the first time introduced a ‘Quitline’ number - QUIT TODAY CALL 1800-11-2356 - to be printed on all tobacco products.
A notification in this regard was issued on April 3. As per the notification, two images of specified health warnings, as notified in the schedule, should be displayed on all tobacco product packages. “During the rotation period, there shall be two images of specified health warning, which shall appear consecutively on the package with an interregnum period of twelve months,” the notification has stated.
Textual health warning
“For smoking and smokeless forms of tobacco products, the words TOBACCO CAUSES CANCER and the words TOBACCO CAUSES PAINFUL DEATH shall appear in white font on a red background, and the words QUIT TODAY CALL 1800-11-2356 shall appear in white font on a black background,” the notification said.
From April 2016, the Health Ministry has implemented the rule of large pictorial health warnings occupying 85% of the space on both sides of all packages of cigarettes, bidis and all forms of chewing tobacco products, and has been in effect for almost two years.
India’s current international ranking for package warnings is 3, as outlined in the October 2016 Canadian Cancer Society Report, Cigarette Package Health Warning International Status Report that ranked 205 countries worldwide. The entire world applauded this progressive step taken by India in tobacco control and saving human lives.
The recently released Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016-2017 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) revealed 62% of cigarette smokers and 54% of bidi smokers shared that they had considered quitting because of the 85% pictorial warnings on the packets. Moreover, 46% of smokeless tobacco users considered quitting because of the warnings on smokeless tobacco products.
