India has 5th largest pictorial warnings on cigarette packets

NEWDELHI: Pictorial health warnings cover 85% of cigarette packets in India, the fifth most among the 118 countries worldwide that have made pictorial warnings mandatory according to a new report released by Canadian Cancer Society.

Timor-leste now has the largest warnings in the world on cigarette packages at 92.5% on front and back, Nepal and Vanuatu are at second at 90%, New Zealand is fourth at 87.5%, and Hong Kong, India and Thailand are at fifth position with 85% on both sides of cigarette packets.

Around 58% of the world’s population is covered by this regulation to warn people about the harmful effects of tobacco use, said the Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report 2018 report released during the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Geneva.

In India, the current pictorial warnings on both sides of all tobacco packages of cigarettes, bidis and all forms of chewing tobacco products came into effect in 2016.

“India has demonstrated global leadership by implementing the quit-line number on all tobacco packages and we appeal to the government to get these trend setting warnings to help more people quit,” said Bhavna Mukhopadhyay, chief executive, Voluntary Health Association of India.

Pictorial warnings covering 85% of both front and back of the packs of tobacco products has met with resistance in past; the most recent being the Karnataka HC striking down the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2014 that mandated 85% coverage earlier this year.

While studies have shown larger warnings working better in dissuading people from tobacco use, tobacco lobbyists have been arguing against its use, claiming it would promote illicit trade and affect livelihood of tobacco farmers.