Dimapur, August 28 (MExN): The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, had mandated that all tobacco products in India have to display pictorial health warnings. This has not happened, a new study by a collaboration of NGOs in India has found.
Blatant violations have been detected in the enforcement of this crucial public health and corporate accountability provision of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003. A total of 60 tobacco product packages from nine states manufactured on or after May 31 were analysed (17 smoking forms and 43 smokeless forms).
On closer scrutiny, it has been revealed that a majority of the tobacco packs analysed either do not display any pictorial warnings at all or the warnings displayed are not in conformity with the rules notified by the government. “The intent with which this provision was notified is not being fulfilled. The coming into force of the warnings was already delayed by two years and now this provision is ineffectively enforced. The notification dated 30 July 2009, which notified the officers responsible for implementing the packaging and labelling rules, came two months after the enforcement date of this provision of the law. By then most tobacco product manufacturers had violated this law,” said Monika Arora, Director of HRIDAY.
The key deficiencies were many. Pictorial warnings are smaller than the stipulated 40% of the principal display area of the pack. Of the 60 products analysed, 25 brands of ‘gutka’, 10 brands of ‘khaini’ and 2 brands of ‘bidi’ carry smaller warnings; misleading descriptors on the pack: these are prohibited but still appear on some of the tobacco products analysed (five cigarette brands and 4 chewing tobacco brands contain such descriptors); promotional messages on the pack: messages promoting tobacco use appear on the packs of 10 brands.
Also, several tobacco products do not display any pictorial warnings at all. Eight brands of chewing tobacco and nine brands of smoking forms of tobacco do not have any warnings. These include international brands as well. Similarly, there were also incorrect warnings. Three brands were found carrying incorrect warnings.
In some of the products, the study found, the warnings are not displayed in the regional language in which the brand name is mentioned, as mandated by the law. “Some gutka companies are again circumventing pictorial warnings by covering 40% area of the pack with white colour and devoting much less space to the warning. The government should hold them accountable in interest of public health and social justice,” said Bobby Ramakant of the Indian Society against Smoking, Asha Parivar.According to Dr. P C Gupta, Director of Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Mumbai, “It is almost scandalous that even after such a long time many tobacco products do not carry stipulated warnings and those who carry it, try to circumvent the rules in every possible way. This situation has developed because word ‘sold’ used in the gazette notification was changed to the word ‘manufactured/ imported’ in the public notices issued by the Ministry. This has clearly sent wrong signals to the industry about the seriousness of the implementation.”
The violations have been documented and the report has been submitted to the government, with a request to take cognizance of the violations and ensure that continuance and reoccurrence are prevented.
