The WHO award is given to governments or individuals who show exceptional zeal in tobacco control.

Amid apprehensions that the new pictorial warnings on all tobacco products may be disregarded by various players, Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) on Thursday said the tobacco industry

State Tobacco Control Departmentcollects over Rs.57 lakh fine in six years

Himachal today earned the distinction of becoming the first state in the country to be declared smoke-free with a compliance of 84.52 per cent, based on a scientific technical survey conducted as p

Jammu and Kashmir is fast emerging as the smoking capital of North India. The monthly spending on tobacco products far outstrips the national average.

Directors of 14 regional cancer centres across the country, including the Indian Dental Association and Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Health Minister Ghulab Nabi Azad urging them to bring in a nationwide ban on the sale of gutka/pan masala products in the country.

The move comes after cancer specialists/oncologists, oral cancer victims and public health experts lauded the government for banning gutka in over 10 States under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulations, which prohibit the addition of tobacco or nicotine in food, and urged the government to ensure effective implementation of this notification in all the States.

When it comes to pictorial warnings on tobacco packets, India ranks a low 123 among 198 countries surveyed on the warnings parameter.

Pictorial warnings on cigarette packs continue to sully India’s anti-tobacco efforts on the global arena.

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.

Latest addition will be insertion of the word “warning” in red font on the tobacco packs

In an effort to curb tobacco abuse in India, the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has notified a new set of warnings to be depicted on tobacco product packs with effect from April next year. The latest addition will be the insertion of the word “warning” in red font on the tobacco packs. Also, a provision has been added to ensure a ratio is maintained between the vertical and horizontal length of the health warning to avoid distortion with the change in the size of packs.