As the Health Ministry’s deadline of April 1 for increasing pictorial warnings to 85 per cent of cigarette packs nears, a Parliamentary panel has pitched for reducing the warning size to 50 per cent from the existing 40 per cent, inviting the ire of health experts as well as the industry.
Reacting to the report of the Committee on Subordinate Legislations, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the tobacco industry said 50 per cent is “excessive”. MPs and health experts, on the other hand, hoped the Ministry would stick to 85 per cent.
Dilip Gandhi, chairman of the panel, justified the recommendations, saying: “In order to have a balanced approach, the warning on cigarette packets should be 50 per cent on both sides of the principal display area instead of 85 per cent.” Otherwise, there will be a flooding of illicit cigarettes in the country, he added.
The panel also dismissed issues related to “conflict of interest” rising from the presence of
In the case of beedi , the panel recommended a “practical” approach by increasing the size of warning to 50 per cent on one side of the pack, citing livelihood concerns of the large number of employees engaged in the industry.
Biju Janata Dal’s Jay Panda said he was “disappointed”, as one million Indians died every year from smoking beedis — most of them poor people who could not afford costly treatment.
K Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India, expressed hope that the Centre will stand by its decision of going ahead with 85 per cent warning.
Concern for farmers The Tobacco Institute, representing the industry, said a 50 per cent warning size would “adversely impact the already distressed” tobacco farmers, and “further penalise the regulation-compliant legal cigarette industry and provide a huge boost to growing illegal trade in cigarettes in the country.”