When will tobacco products display nicotine and tar levels Mr Ramadoss?
(To read this posting in Hindi language , please click here )
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In a news published in The Telegraph , India’s Union Health and Family Welfare minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss said: “There’s an urgent need to protect the 600 million people in India who’re below 30 years of age from not just tobacco, but also from junk food and alcohol.”
He appealed to film and sport stars to refrain from patronizing junk foods, tobacco or alcohol. Dr Ramadoss added that:
“The alcohol issue also needs to be addressed, but only four states - Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Manipur and Gujarat - have prohibited alcohol”
Outlining a list of pending initiatives of the health ministry, Ramadoss said the government would make nutritional labelling of all packaged food products mandatory “within two months”. Under these rules - which have been under formulation for nearly two years - all food packets sold in India would have to display their content, listing levels of fat, proteins and other nutrients, and the calories available.
But under The Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (2003) despite of the provision requiring all tobacco products to display their nicotine and tar contents, it hasn’t been enforced so far. Actually tobacco control Act and its provisions are indeed presenting a daunting challenge to implement.
The Cigarette and other tobacco products Act (2003) mentions:
"No person shall, directly or indirectly, produce, supply or distribute cigarettes or any other tobacco products unless every package of cigarettes or any other tobacco products produced, supplied or distributed by him indicates thereon, or on its label, the nicotine and tar contents on each cigarette or as the case may be on other tobacco products along with the maximum permissible limits thereof: provided that the nicotine and tar contents shall not exceed the maximum permissible quantity thereof as may be prescribed by rules made under this Act"
India is very far from the enforcement of various provisions of this Act and struggling to even get a consensus among the elected representatives on such crucial public health measures.
Alcohol is thankfully banned so far in four Indian states, but tobacco, despite of being recognized as the leading cause of preventable deaths in India, is far from being banned in any city, leave aside the state!
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(To read this posting in Hindi language , please click here )
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