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| Health Ministry Succumbs to Tobacco Lobby Pressure' | | | SRINAGAR: Alleging that Union Health Ministry has succumbed to the pressure from powerful tobacco lobby, several organisations have condemned the ministry's decision to give six more months to them for depicting photograph of a rotting cancer-stricken mouth on tobacco packs.
Jammu and Kashmir Voluntary Health Association (VHA) along with members of civil society, NGOs, Tobacco Control activists and Health workers condemned the Ministrys decision to wait six more months, before gory pictorial warnings depicting photograph of a rotting cancer-stricken mouth are printed on tobacco packs.
In a joint statement issued here today they said Union Ministry has buckled under pressure from powerful tobacco lobby and decided to defer gory warnings on cigarette and tobacco packs till December I.
They said it was unfortunate that tobacco companies were allowed to continue with the soft and counter-productive picture of a lung and scorpion, which are tremendously mild and do not convey the harmful effects of tobacco smoking and chewing. These mild pictorial warnings do not encourage a smoker to quit smoking.
Executive Director of VHA A M Mir, a retired IAS officer, said the pictorial warnings were enforced by government of India on May I, 2009 after the intervention of the Supreme Court, which mandated that pictorial warnings should be rotated every 12 months.
He said new pictorial warning was finalised after field testing conducted by Voluntary Health Association of India and Healis in seven states on request of the Union Health Ministry. Mr Mir said 98 per cent respondents chose the picture of a cancer-ridden mouth as a replacement for the present day picture of a lung and scorpion. It was felt that this would repulse tobacco users and in turn help them to quit smoking or chewing tobacco. The warning was to cover 40 per cent of the tobacco pack in local languages all over India with the message ''Tobacco Kills'' and ''Tobacco Causes Cancer''.
Mr Mir said International experience has shown that warnings need to be big, scary and colourful. Only then do they catch the eye of the user and deter people. He said VHA would continue in its endeavour to lobby and advocate for strong pictorial warnings so that it will make smokers quit.
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