The Hindu Business Line : Health Ministry moots Central Tobacco Regulatory Authority

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Health Ministry moots Central Tobacco Regulatory Authority

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To take up issues like taxation, liaisoning with NGOs on tobacco-related issues

Mumbai , Sept. 14

The Union Health Ministry is considering setting up a Central Tobacco Regulatory Authority. The authority would take-up issues such as taxation of the tobacco industry, besides liaisoning with the State Governments and NGO's on tobacco-related issues, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, Union Health Minister, said on Thursday.

He was addressing the media on the announcement of the 14th World Conference on Tobacco, to be held in Mumbai in 2009.

Smoking ban

On banning smoking in movies, Dr Ramadoss said that the Health Ministry was working along with the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry for formulating norms for the film industry.

Films, which depict smoking, will receive `A' certification from the censor board, he said. A committee will scrutinise the scenes and the filmmaker will have to justify the need for such scenes, he added.

Dr Ramadoss pointed that actors smoking on screen will have to publicly advocate that cigarette smoking is injurious to health. A scroll warning about the hazards of smoking will have to be inserted before and after those scenes, which depict smoking, he said.

The Ministry is also considering inserting a clause in the proposed Food Labelling Act, he said adding that the clause would ban food items that contain tobacco or nicotine. It would also help in regulating items such as gutkha.

Given the rise in the consumption of pan-masala, especially by the youth, the Indian Council of Medical Research will soon take up research on the harmful effects of pan-masala, he said.

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