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Tag: Ghulam Nabi Azad

  • Govt. counters ads saying Gutkha less harmful than tobacco: Azad

    NEW DELHI: The health and family welfare ministry recently published a public notice highlighting the harmful effects of all forms of tobacco use and the desirability of quitting tobacco use in response to a few advertisements published in leading national and regional dailies raising questions on whether Gutkha was a food product.

    Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told Parliament that the advertisements by a body named Smokeless Tobacco Association also implied that Gutkha was less harmful than smoking forms of tobacco. It said food safety regulations were discriminatory in nature.

    The advertisement of pan masala (without tobacco or nicotine) is regulated by the food safety and standards (packaging and labelling) regulations, 2011, dated 1 August 2011, notified by the food safety and standards authority of India. Under sections 30 and 31 of this regulation, pan masala can be advertised subject to the condition that every package of pan masala and advertisement relating thereto carries the warning “Chewing of pan masala or supari is injurious to health.”

    Section 5 of The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA 2003) prohibits all forms of advertisements (direct/indirect) of tobacco products including gutka, except at the points of sale or on the tobacco product packs. Moreover, under food safety regulations, the production, sale, distribution and storage of food items such as gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine is prohibited.

    Litigation on these issues are pending before the Supreme Court, the Minister said.

  • 69 prosecutions launched relating to misleading ads

    NEW DELHI: A total of 630 cases were registered for investigation and 69 prosecutions were launched in the year 2010-2011 and 2011–2012 relating to misleading advertisements.

    According to the State Drugs Control Authorities, 57 food items have been identified with misleading claims through print and electronic media under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act.

    Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told Parliament that manufacturers of these articles have been served with show-cause notices. Prosecution has been launched in 19 cases by Designated Officers at their regional levels.

    The misleading advertisements relating to drugs and magic remedies are taken care of by the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and Rules made thereunder.

    State Governments are responsible for taking action under the Act. Advertisements relating to food articles fall under the Food Safety Standards & Authority of India (FSSAI) which monitors labels on various food items and claims advertised for food items by different companies in print and electronic media.

    The complaints received from stakeholders are analysed and show-cause notices issued by the FSSAI to the manufacturers. Their replies are examined by a Committee constituted for this purpose by the Authority. As per recommendations of this Committee, actions including prosecution are initiated by Designated Officers at their regional levels.

  • Stronger pictorial warnings in tobacco ads from 1 December

    Stronger pictorial warnings in tobacco ads from 1 December

    NEW DELHI: New strong pictorial warnings are to be put on cigarette and tobacco packets and in advertisements with effect from 1 December this year in a fresh effort to dissuade tobacco users from consuming tobacco products.

    Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has cleared four pictures each of lung and oral cancer that will be used. The warnings will be rotated every two years from December this year.

    A new notification issued on 27 May provides for strong pictorial warnings for smoking (cigarettes, bidis, cigars etc.) and smokeless or chewing forms of tobacco products.

    The notification has been issued because feedback from different sectors showed that the existing health warnings were not strong and effective so as to influence tobacco users to quit the habit of tobacco use. As there is high prevalence of smokeless tobacco use in the country and the consumption is more among the lower socio-economic class with low levels of literacy, ‘it is hoped that strong pictorial warnings will definitely dissuade tobacco users from consuming tobacco products’.

    The notification was issued by making amendments to the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008.

    The Principal rules were published on 15 March 2008 and subsequently amended on 29 September and on 28 November the same year, and again on 3 May 2009, 5 March 2010, 17 May 2010 and 20 December 2010.

    The Government had enacted a comprehensive legislation to combat the menace of tobacco – Cigarettes and other tobacco products Regulation of (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, (COTPA) 2003 – which provided for a ban on smoking in public places, ban on sale of tobacco products to and by minors, prohibition of sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions, ban on all advertisements of tobacco products, and providing for pictorial health warnings on packages of tobacco products.

    After a long legal battle, the Rules relating to Section 7 of COTPA 2003 which mandated pictorial health warnings on tobacco products came into implementation on 31 May, 2009. As India has also ratified WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the Government is committed to implement guidelines and provisions under FCTC. Article 11 of WHO FCTC recommends pictorials health warnings as an effective strategy for reduction of demand of tobacco.