New pictorial warning on tobacco products from June

New Delhi, Mar 15: The new specified health warnings for both smoking and chewing or smokeless forms of tobacco will come into effect from June 1, 2010, as per the rotation system.

As per the provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labeling) Rules, 2008, subsequently amended in 2008 and 2009, the specified health warning rules notified by the MoHFW on May 31, 2009, have to be rotated after every 12 months and the next rotation is due on May 31, 2010, a statement said.

As a signatory to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has to rotate the health warnings on tobacco product packs on a regular basis.

The new specified health warnings for both smoking and chewing of smokeless forms of tobacco will come into effect from June 1, 2010, the statement added.

Tobacco is the foremost cause of preventable death in the world today.

In India, tobacco-attributable deaths currently range between 8 lakh to 9 lakh per year. The cost of the tobacco attributable burden of just three groups of diseases (cancer, heart disease and lung cancer) was estimated Rs 30,833 crores in 2002-03.

In view of the huge loss caused by tobacco use to the public health exchequer, a comprehensive legislation to prohibit advertising and regulate production, supply and distribution of cigarettes and tobacco products, the comprehensive tobacco control legislation was enacted on May 18, 2003.