Tobacco products should show more clear warnings: NGOs

Blaming the government's lack of will, various NGOs and civil society organisations are demanding more pictorial warnings on tobacco products to increase consumer knowledge of deadly effects of tobacco.

"Under the excuses like cabinet meetings and lack of time with big tobacco companies to implement the warnings, the government has been ignoring the health concerns of the people who consume tobacco," says Alok Mukhopadhyay, Chief Executive of Voluntary Health Association of India.

"The government looks all set to further delay the notified mouth cancer picture scheduled to appear on all tobacco product packages from December 1 this year," says Mukhopadhyay.

Pictorial warnings on tobacco products were first notified in India in 2006 and since then there have been numerous delays and dilution in arriving at a stronger depiction.

There is a set of three pictorial health warnings used by tobacco companies which include picture of a scorpion, rotten lungs and an x-ray of lungs.

"The truth is that the impact of the tobacco is dangerous. Even Pakistan has more gory warnings than India. We need such practise as they have proved successful in other countries," says Dr Monika Arora, director, HRIDAY.

"The government is giving unscientific and non-evidence based arguments like it can not put picture of a dead body because it hurts religious sentiments pf people," says Arora.

Estimates say about 250 million people across the country use tobacco products like gutkha, cigarettes and bidis and by 2020, tobacco will be responsible for 13 per cent of all deaths in India.

"India is signatory to Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and we are not keeping our commitment to it," says Mukhopadhyay.

"Indian warnings appear only on one side of the pack. The retailer tries to hide that side and the purpose of educating the people is not served," says Arora.

The latest International Status Report on the cigrette package health warnings released during the WHO's FCTC meeting in Uruguay reveals that India ranks 100 among 175 countries surveyed on warning size and fulfillment of requirements for picture warnings on all tabacco products.

Around 40 nations use pictorial warnings on tobacco products to make smokers aware of the ill effects of tobacco. HRIDAY organised an exhibition in the ongoing trade fair on the pictorial warnings used in different countries.

It also organised an opinion poll where 5300 people exoressed their views on the issue of pictorial warnings on tobacco products. 82 per cent respondents selected the notified mouth cancer warning to be enforced from Dec 1 this year as more effective.

When asked 96 per cent respondents agreed that warnings should appear on both sides of the tobacco packs. HRIDAY earlier conducted a study in Delhi, Uttarakhand, UP, Haryana and Tripura to test the effectiveness of existing pictorial warnings.

More than 63 per cent of the respondents said they felt the warning labels were inadequate in conveying the adverse impact of tobacco use on health.

The signatures of 7,800 people and the results of the opinion poll along with a letter requesting implementation of notified pictorial health warning has been sent to the PMO and the health ministry.