In plain packaging, the tobacco product package will have no branding or promotional information. Rather, it will sport graphic health warnings, dull colour combinations, a brand name and a product and/or manufacturer’s name in standardised font.
Stressing on plain packaging, Director General of Health Services Jagdish Prasad said that tobacco is one of the major carrier of cancer. “Millions of people are dying each year due to cancer and it’s happening due to consumption of tobacco products. The time has come to save the lives of people, which can be done by strictly implementing the plain packaging norm.”
The Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008 mandated that all tobacco products –chewable or otherwise –“were required to display graphic pictures, such as pictures of diseased lungs and the text smoking kills or tobacco kills in English.”
“With a decline in smoking levels among the high-income countries, tobacco companies are increasingly relying on developing economies, especially in the south-east Asia region –with nearly 246 million people in its 11 countries continuing to smoke tobacco and nearly 290 million using it in smokeless forms –to bolster its market presence,” said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO regional director for Southeast Asia, in a statement.
“Tobacco is leading to the death of 1.3 million people across south-east Asia every year - the equivalent of 150 fatalities per hour,” Singh added.
Union Health Minister JP Nadda has sought the support of civil society organisatons in curbing use of tobacco. Nadda has asked them to adopt a group of schools and sensitise children about its ill effects as he advocated a “catch them young” approach.
“I urge NGOs and civil society organisations to come forward and adopt five-six schools and sensitise children about dangers of tobacco use and effectiveness of large and graphic pictorial health warnings on tobacco products,” Nadda said at a function organised by WHO and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).