Lok Sabha Question No. 1004 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-04-29
Subject: Pictorial Warnings on Tobacco Products
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: KOTHA PRABHAKAR REDDY, T.G. VENKATESH BABU, K. MARAGATHAM, PRALHAD VENKATESH JOSHI, JAYADEV GALLA, R. VANAROJA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION NO. 1004 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29 TH APRIL, 2016

## PICTORIAL WARNINGS O N TOBACCO PRODUCTS

## 1004. SHRI PRABHAKAR REDDY KOTHA:

SHRI VENKATESH BABU T.G.:

SHRIMATI K. MARAGATHAM:

SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI:

SHRI JAYADEV GALLA:

SHRIMATI VANAROJA R.:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has amended the Packaging and Labell ing Rules, 2008 to enforce the changes relating to pictorial warning messages on Tobacco products including Beedi issued any notification in this regard and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether the  Government  has  received  representations  from  the  States/  public  seeki relaxation for pictorial warning on cigarettes and Beedi packets;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the response of the Government thereto;
- (d) the names of diseases caused b y the usage of Tobacco products and the number of deaths reported upon, State/UT -wise during the last three years;
- (e) whether the Government is planning to ban imported and fake cigarettes and other to products which do not depict the mandatory pic torial warnings; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA)

- (a) : Ministry  of  Health  & Family  Welfare  notified  the  new  health  warnings  through  the Cigarettes  and  other  Tobacco  Products  (Packaging  and  Labelling)  Amendment  Rules  vide G.S.R- 727  dated  15th  October  2014.  As  per  the  new  Rules,  pictorial  health  warnings  s occupy  at  least  eight y  five  percent  (85%)  of  the  principal  display  area  of  the  package  (8 includes 60% of pictorial health warning and 25% of textual health warning).

Contd………

Ministry  of  Health  &  Family  Welfare  [vide  notification  G.S.R - 739(E)  dated  24th September2015] notified that the new Rules on pictorial health warnings would come into e from 1st April 2016.

(b ) & (c) : Government has received communications both for and against the new Rules on pictorial health warning on cigarettes and Beedi packets .

The intent and purpose of the pictorial health warnings is to create awareness ab serious  and  adverse  health  consequences  of  tobacco  usage  among  the  youth,  childr illiterate/semi - literate and the uninitiated, who are either the primary users o f tobacco or who may be vulnerable to use tobacco products, so that they are empowered to make an infor choice about such use.

(d) : As per the ICMR study 'Assessment of Burden of Disease due to Non - Communicable Diseases  (2006)',  based  on  analysis  o f  published  literature  till  2004,  the  risk  of  disea attributable to tobacco use was 78% for stroke, 65.6% for tuberculosis, 85.2% for ischemi disease, 52% for acute myocardial infarction, 43% for oesophageal cancer, and 16% for cancer, respec tively. Essentially all body systems (Nervous, Respiratory, Digestive, Circul &  Haematological,  Immune,  Endocrine  &  Metabolism,  Excretory,  Reproductive,  Sensory, Cutaneous, and Skeletal) are affected by smoking. Consumption of smokeless tobacco produ ts may cause oral cancer, pancreatic cancer, oesophageal cancer, cardiovascular diseases, c bronchitis (linked to use of snuff), low birth weight babies and stillbirths, reduced men, retarded wound healing, periodontal diseases, halitosi s (bad breath), and oral infections.

Tobacco is the foremost preventable cause of death and disease in the world today per the report of Tobacco Control in India (2004), nearly 8 - 9 lakh people die every year due to diseases attributable to tobacco use . A nationally representative study on smoking and death in India (published in 2008) found that smoking causes a large and growing number of prema deaths  in  the  country.  The  study  estimated  that  in  2010,  the  annual  number  of  deaths smoking in Ind ia would be around 10 lakhs.

(e ) & (f) : As  per  Sections  7(2)  and  (3)  of  the  Cigarettes  and  other  Tobacco  Produc (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply a Distribution) Act 2003 (COTPA 2003), no tobacc o products can be sold without the specified pack warnings.

Section 7(2) of the Act lays down as under:

' No person shall carry on trade or commerce in cigarettes or any other tobacco products u every package of cigarettes or any other tobacco product s sold, supplied or distributed by him bears thereon, or on its label, the specified warning .'

Section 7(3) of the Act lays down as under:

' No person shall import cigarettes or any other tobacco products for distribution or supp valuable  considerat ion  or  for  sale  in  India  unless  every  package  of  cigarettes  or  any  o tobacco products so imported by him bears thereon, or on its label, the specified warning .'

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