All tobacco products manufactured from May 31 will have to carry pictorial warnings on their packets in a bid to discourage their consumption.
Rejecting the reservations of tobacco companies, the government has ordered that the products will have to clearly display a scorpion and diseased lungs as pictorial warnings which should cover at least 40 per cent of the principal display area of the packets.
Do you think these graphic images will turn smokers away from the vice or will it make no difference to them?
Readers' comments:
It would start affecting after/if one gets sick due to smoking. If not, people would enjoy smoking.
Monday, June 15, 2009 17:41 IST
Ankit , NCR
No, the mere use of graphic pictorial warnings on cigarette packets will not stop people from smoking. Use of tobacco is a habit that will not go away easily. Even a smoker knows the evils of smoking. There is no use explaining its ill effects to him.
Isn't it hypocrisy that governments of all countries try to ban smoking but are the ones who levy taxes and benefit from the revenue generated by the sale of tobacco products?
It will require a sustained positive campaign to discourage people from smoking. The youth should be targeted first. It is at a young age that a teenager picks up this habit from his peers to gain acceptability and becomes habituated to it. We need good role models to advocate that the youth must not smoke. Their mindset should be changed such that the next time a youth takes up a cigarette or gutkha packet, his friends laugh at him and make him feel insulted. He will automatically divert his attention towards more productive activities.
Once the problem is nipped in the bud, the list of smokers will come down gradually.
Saturday, June 13, 2009 17:57 IST
Suresh M Iyer, Dombivli, Mumbai
The government has to take a stand on the issue; they want to make money off the taxes imposed on cigarettes and advertisements as well!
Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:51 IST
Jayesh. Thakker, Mumbai
I haven't heard such rubbish before.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 19:23 IST
Ravi Tale, Akola
According to me, showing the picture will not stop smokers. Heavier taxes on tobacco products will definitely help.
Friday, June 5, 2009 23:56 IST
RONAK DAVDA , MUMBAI
