The Hindu : Front Page : Anti-tobacco activists, health experts appeal to Prime Minister

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 24, 2007
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Front Page

Anti-tobacco activists, health experts appeal to Prime Minister

Special Correspondent

Implement the notification making mandatory pictorial warning labels

— Photo: V. Sudershan

`NO' TO TOBACCO: School students take out a rally in New Delhi on Wednesday calling for the mandatory depiction of pictorial warning labels on tobacco products.

NEW DELHI: Anti-tobacco activists, health experts and youth representatives have appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to implement from June 1 the notification making mandatory the depiction of pictorial warning labels on tobacco products.

In a memorandum submitted to Dr. Singh, the activists — under the banner of the Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control — said that they were distressed that the Government was reconsidering the law and a group of Ministers had been asked to discuss the issue before the notification was implemented.

A huge misinformation campaign is now being launched by a section of the tobacco industry to undermine this measure by using media channels and lobby groups.

It is being claimed that millions of bidi workers will be rendered jobless and that bidis are less toxic because they are natural products.

Bidi is the most popular form of tobacco smoking in India, and compared to less than 100 billion cigarettes produced in India, 700-800 billion bidis are rolled out every year.

Unlike cigarettes, bidis are smoked mostly by the poor, the memorandum pointed out. "We believe that the poor and the most vulnerable sections of our population must be spared the burden of tobacco-related diseases.

The low educational status of most bidi smokers makes it imperative that they be provided adequate information on the health hazards of bidi smoking, through pictorial health warnings which overcome the illiteracy barrier.

A rational pathway for safeguarding the welfare of the bidi workers is to provide alternative occupations — not to trade lives," it was said in the memorandum.

The representatives also met Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss.

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