Gory pics on tobacco packs from Dec 1

NEW DELHI: Finally, gory pictorial warnings like that of rotting mouths, hanging gums and infected lungs, will appear on cigarette, bidi, cigar and smokeless or chewing tobacco packets from December 1.

The Union health ministry issued the notification on Saturday after years of buckling to resistance from the all-powerful tobacco lobby. The latest notification contains a set of four pictures each of lung and oral cancer.

The warnings, which will be rotated every two years, are aimed at discouraging people from consuming tobacco. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad gave his nod to the new pictorial warnings on Friday night.

India, where 2,500 people die daily due to tobacco use, had put off the introduction of gory pictorial warnings several times before. Even Pakistan has made it mandatory that 40% of all tobacco packs must carry the image of a rotting mouth suffering from cancer along with a health warning on both sides. While 30% of the tobacco packs show a patient stricken with oral cancer, 10% carry the warning text.

A similar stipulation will be applicable for India as well.

Presently, nine lakh people die in India annually due to tobacco-related diseases. At a conservative estimate, about 250 million people across the country use tobacco products like gutkha, cigarettes and bidis.

Over 16% are cigarette smokers, while 44% smoke bidis. The ministry says 40% of health problems stems from tobacco use. Tobacco will be responsible for 13% of all deaths in India. Studies suggest that more than 38.4million bidi and 13.2million cigarette smokers may die prematurely because of their addiction. Only 2% of Indian smokers quit successfully.

Gory pictorial warnings are used in several countries, including Australia, Belgium, Chile and Hong Kong. Brazil changes the pictures every five months.

India first introduced pictorial health warnings on tobacco products on May 31, 2009. However, the warnings - ineffective in both form and content - had little impact on consumers.

"As there is high prevalence of smokeless tobacco use in the country and the consumption is more among the lower socio-economic class with low levels of literacy, it is hoped that strong pictorial warnings will definitely dissuade tobacco users from consuming tobacco products," Azad said.

source: TOI