India ranks shamefully low in a new report that put countries according to how successfully they managed to introduce pictorial health warnings on tobacco packets — a proven strategy that deters people from smoking or chewing tobacco.

According to the Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report, which was released at the fifth session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Seoul, South Korea, India ranked 123 among 198 countries surveyed on warning size and fulfilment of requirements for picture-based warnings on cigarette packets.

There is a bad news: India may not be able to meet Millennium Development Goals for Women and Children’s health by the target year of 2015.

India’s lessons that finally led to eradicating crippling polio reached Nigeria after it sought India’s expertise recently in combating the virus.

While India was taken off polio endemic list this year after it did not report any polio case, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan have remained to be few countries that are still endemic. Earlier, experts from India had visited Pakistan after Shahnaz Wazir Ali, the Pakistani Prime Minister’s national focal person on polio eradication led a nine-member delegation to India and asked for India’s help.

With a number states deciding to ban use and sale of gutka, the Union health ministry has urged the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government to follow its counterparts in rest of the country in banning sale of such products in the state.

So far, states of Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Delhi have implemented the provision as envisaged under Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulation and enforced enforce ban on manufacture, sale and storage of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco and nicotine in their states. Chandigarh also followed the suit and banned the sale, manufacture and storage of gutka.

With non-communicable diseases (NCDs) expected to rise in years to come, the Planning Commission, in its proposed health chapter for the 12th Plan, has recommended a package of policy interventions for the escalating threat of NCDs like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases which will emerge as major killers.

The experts have proposed interventions like raising taxes on tobacco, salt reduction in processed foods, early detection and effective control of high blood pressure, diabetes, screening for common and treatable cancers etc.

With an aim to determine health impact of existing and new policies which have a bearing on health of population, a dedicated “health impact cell” for conducting analysis is in the anvil.

According to the Planning Commission’s proposed document on health, the views of the cell will be taken into consideration before framing or modifying policies. Opining that the impact of policies and programmes of non-health sectors on health remains invisible for long periods.

Days after the US mandated that the drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens will have to bear a cancer warning, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked its scientific panel to study the content of the beverages in India to see if the same warning is required here as well.
Recently, California added to its list of cancer causing chemicals a commonly used flavoured soda beverages, mandate containing a certain level of carcinogens bear a cancer warning label.

While the ingredients’ modifications were made by the beverage companies in the US caramel colouring using ammonia-sulfite in their sodas after the state of California added ammonia sulfite or 4-MI to its list of known carcinogens. The FSSAI has asked their experts to study the same. “This is a recent warning being put out.

Accusing that the Planning Commission ignored suggestions of the Working Group while preparing the draft chapter on health, the Union health ministry has sent out its reservations and have suggested major changes in the health chapter to the Commission.

In a recent communication to the Planning Commission, the health ministry has said that certain changes have been made including updating the figures, correcting factual inaccuracies to give positive “overtone” rather than negative connotion. “Changes have been made in the track change mode in the report,” said the comments made by the health ministry on the proposed chapter on health in the 12th plan document.

The young, the healthy and those earning more stand to get greater compensation if they suffer any untoward incident during a clinical trial. The Drug Controller General of India on Friday came out with new guidelines for determing the quantum of financial compensation to be paid in case of a clinical-trial-related injury or death.

The experts decided to take into account parameters like the age of the deceased, income of the deceased, seriousness and severity of the disease that the subject was suffering at the time of his/her participation in the trial and the percentage of permanent disability to calculate the compensation to be paid to family members of the deceased.

In a shocking incident, a consignment of pickle meant for export to Canada was found to be contaminated with Sudan 1 — a dye, typically used for colouring oils, waxes, petrol, shoe polishes and thought to increase the risk of cancer.

Calling it a serious issue, the Food Safety and Standards of India (FSSAI) has sent out an advisory to all states and UTs to make concerted effort to check such type of menaces in local market. The FSSAI has also asked the commissioners of food safety of states to take stringent measures.