Need a breather? Head out of the office, straight to the nearby tea stall. Order a tea, and then smoke. In all of this, how many look at the pictorial warnings on the cigarette pack?
Not many, responded those gathered at a smoking bay. But when they do look, the common refrain is, “Well, if that’s how my lung looks it’s not that bad; the exhaust fumes from vehicular population is doing the same to me.” And the guffaws follow.
“There are an estimated 300 million tobacco consumers in India,” said Dr Vishal Rao, consultant oncologist-head & neck surgeon, Fortis Hospital.
He further pointed out that heart diseases in about 50 lakh people, lung ailments in 25-30 lakh people and cancer in five lakh people are attributed to tobacco consumption. He cited the WHO projections for 2020 which state that an estimated 47 lakh people will suffer from cardiovascular diseases in India and the primary cause will be tobacco consumption.
Such being the scenario, the need for effective warning is greater. Studies have shown that strong pictorial warnings help deter new and regular smokers. The most effective images often are of oral cancer. Images of a lung X-ray being used in India are far from effective.
Two years ago, Dr Prakash C Gupta, director, Healis — Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Mumbai conducted a survey, titled ‘Surveys on pictorial warning labels’. “We used 14 picture warnings and the lung X-rays scored the lowest,” he said.
Recalling how the layman interpreted the images on the pack, he said, “Some said it was two people talking, some said it looked like a waterfall. And the scorpion on gutka packs were considered a brand itself. These responses showed that the pictures on cigarette and gutka packs were irrelevant. Very few understood that it was a health warning or that tobacco consumption can cause health problems.”
Dr Upendra Bhojani, faculty, Institute of Public Health, said, “The dilution of the image has taken place in two ways: first, the image size is reduced to 40% of the surface area, instead of approved 50%. Second, the main picture has been diluted such that it is a picture of a chest X-ray. It is very difficult for a common man to make sense of it.”
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