Pictorial warnings on tobacco packaging ineffective
Pictorial warnings on tobacco packaging ineffective
The Union Health Ministry admitted the present pictorial warnings on tobacco products have not been effective as people did not understand their message of caution.
While shifting the focus on 'smokeless tobacco', the Centre on Monday said that it would now work on improving the pictorial warnings to curb the use of tobacco.
The Ministry is also in consultation with the Agriculture Ministry to find a way out in persuading tobacco farmers to move to another crop in its bid to contain tobacco use, Keshav Desiraju, Additional Secretary in Union Health Ministry.
The present pictorial warnings on tobacco packs feature lungs X-ray, a cross section of lungs with related cancer, and a scorpion. Desiraju said "Many of the buyers in urban areas understand the meaning of the symbols but they still buy. Ultimately, it's the people who will have to understand that it's bad for them."
Union Health Ministry would not concentrate on measures for curbing the smokeless tobacco in the form of chewing tobacco, gutka and pan masala. Desiraju said that the Ministry would soon consult the states on the ways and means to curb use of smokeless tobacco. According to ICMR, 50 percent of cancer cases among men and 25 percent among women in India are related to tobacco use. Nearly 90 percent of oral cancer cases are related to use of chewing tobacco.
States with high prevalence of smokeless tobacco also face the challenge of high burden of oral cancer. Besides oral cancer, smokeless tobacco use is also associated with cancers of food pipe, pancreas, kidney throat and stomach.
Tobacco companies spend about $15.3 billion on tobacco marketing and promotion. Because they are prohibited from advertising on television and radio, the tobacco companies market and promote their products in convenience stores, in magazines, especially those popular with youth, online, and special promotions designed to lure the young into thinking that smoking is cool or a way to express their independence.
Point-of-sale ads oftentimes include coupons, multi-pack discounts for which the retailer is reimbursed, free gifts with cigarette purchases. Retailers are paid to display the tobacco company's ads prominently in display racks or in good shelving space.
Most smokers start as teenagers or at least start when they are young. The tobacco companies' ads are effective. According to the CDC, each day, about 3,450 young people between 12 and 17 years of age smoke their first cigarette, each day, about 850 persons younger than 18 years of age begin smoking on a daily basis, and each day, about 2,200 adults 18 years of age or older begin smoking on a daily basis.
Clearly, regulation has had some, but not enough effect on smoking in the U.S. As long as the manufacture and sale of tobacco products is legal, tobacco companies like any other company will market and promote their products to increase sales and market share. The tobacco companies will come up to, an occasionally step over, the legal line. It is up to law enforcement agencies and the public to be on the alert.
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