Following the decision of Karnataka High Court, health activists and doctors in Rajasthan have expressed concerns about the adverse effects of diluting the pictorial warning
The Karnataka High Court struck down the 2014 amendment rules that mandated pictorial health warnings to cover 85 per cent of tobacco product packaging space on all products sold in India.
Following the decision of Karnataka High Court, health activists and doctors in Rajasthan have expressed concerns about the adverse effects of diluting the pictorial warning. It is worth mentioning that the pictorial warnings on both sides of packages of tobacco products came into effect in April 2016 following the direction of the Rajasthan High Court and subsequently the Supreme Court.
"The second edition of Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS-2) says that in Rajasthan 50.4 per cent cigarette smokers, 47.4 per cent bidi smokers and 60.5 per cent smokeless tobacco users thought of quitting smokeless tobacco use because of warning label on the packets. This figure shows that the bigger pictorial warning on the packet is critical in protecting the youth from the dangers of tobacco, and the government's decision of having 85 per cent pictorial warnings on all tobacco packages should be defended," said Jayesh Joshi, Secretary of Vaagdhara, an NGO working for tobacco control in Rajasthan.
"In Rajasthan, 30 per cent of total cancers patients suffer from cancer caused by the use of tobacco. It is estimated that 30,000 new cancer patients are admitted to the hospital every year due to tobacco-related cancer. Cancers of oral cavity and lungs in males account for over 50 per cent of all cancer deaths in India," said Dr Naresh Somani, Senior Consultant, Medical Oncology Department at Bhagwan Mahavir Cancer Hospital and Research Center, Jaipur.
Rajasthan is the champion
Bigger pictorial warnings were first mandated by a notification issued in October 2014. Followed by the removal of the then Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan, and then Health Secretary Keshav Desiraju, the notification was then taken up suo motu by the Lok Sabha Committee on Subordinate Legislation, which asked the government to put the implementation on hold. While the implementation was then stayed, Rajasthan HC in July 2015 asked the government to implement it.
Such an order is unfortunate. In Rajasthan, where dialects and language change every 2 km, bigger pictorial warnings on tobacco product packages is a cost-effective way to educate people about the ill effects without language limitations.
Dr Virendra Singh, Director, Asthama Bhawan
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