BMJ  2007;335:366 (25 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.39314.582917.DB

News

Move to weaken picture warnings on tobacco packets in India causes outcry

Ganapati Mudur

New Delhi

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Public health experts throughout India have decried a government plan to water down picture warnings on packets of tobacco products, calling it a serious setback to efforts to control tobacco.

A tobacco control law was passed by the Indian parliament in 2003 that mandates printing a picture of a skull and crossbones on all packets of tobacco products, but it is not yet enforced. The Indian cabinet has announced that the government will amend the law to make this picture "optional."

This decision has triggered an outcry among doctors and consumer activists who have long been urging stricter measures for tobacco control. "The government appears to have buckled under pressure from the tobacco lobby," said Bejon Misra, chief executive officer of Voice, a non-government consumer organisation in New Delhi.

The Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control—a consortium of seven public health organisations—last week urged the Indian parliament to consider the harm . . . [Full text of this article]


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