Tobacco News and Interesting Information

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking implementation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules relating to the display of warnings on every pack of tobacco products, including cigarettes.

A Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R.V. Raveendran issued notice on a petition filed by advocates Narinder Sharma and Himansgu Gupta after it was alleged that pressure from the tobacco lobby was coming in the way of implementing rules on mandatory warnings on packs of tobacco products.

The petitioners submitted that though the Rules were notified on July 5, 2006, they were yet to be implemented due to political pressure and, as per news reports, it appeared that the implementation had been postponed indefinitely.

The petition stated that the consumer was being denied the right to know a tobacco product's ingredients such as tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. After repeated reminders, the government said that it did not have the capacity to regulate the level of these ingredients.

The petition said most internationally accepted practices related to warnings on tobacco product packs have been ignored. As regards pictorial warnings, the mandate to display a "skull and bones" sign on cigarette packs had been removed and it had been made optional for the tobacco companies to display such a visual warning.

It said "this is done on the alleged pretext that such visual warnings may hurt the religious sentiments of certain people."

The petitioners contended that such steps were taken by the government under tremendous pressure from the powerful tobacco lobby.

They alleged that the government lacked political, moral and ethical will to implement the law without realising that it was a question of national importance as people were dying of tobacco-related diseases. They sought implementation of the Rules with immediate effect.