India renews its shocking images on tobacco packages

From December 2020, new pictograms designed to both deter smokers from starting smoking and encourage smokers to quit smoking will appear on all tobacco products sold in India..

Last Thursday, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare made public the amendment of July 21, 2020[1] to Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Rules 2008. This third amendment to the Rules will come into force on 1 December 2020; it will concern the evolution of the rules applicable to packaging and labelling.

Content of the amendment

From December 1, all tobacco products manufactured, imported or packaged in India will have to display a new series of shock pictograms.[2]. Furthermore, the amendment limits their validity in time.

In its communication of July 23, the Ministry also specifies that non-compliance with the new provisions will be punishable by two years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000, as provided for in the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003 (prohibition of advertising and regulation of trade, production, supply and distribution)[3]In case of repeat offence, the penalty may be imprisonment for up to 5 years and the fine up to 10,000 rupees.

Products with the current warnings may only be marketed until November 30, 2020[4].

Changing shock images, what’s the point?

The most obvious interest in placing visual warnings on tobacco packages is that a picture is worth a thousand words and that unpleasant images provoke negative emotions in (non-)users. In this sense, photographs showing the worst aspects of smoking not only help discourage non-smokers from starting to smoke but also help to induce smokers to quit.

To go further, by imposing the affixing of off-putting pictograms on tobacco packets, the State is reducing the capacity of manufacturers to make their products attractive in order to attract ever more consumers, particularly the youngest.

The fact remains that human beings adapt quite well. Thus, by renewing warnings on a regular basis, smokers and non-smokers do not adapt to the seriousness of the situation and can no longer choose to ignore all its dimensions.

By imposing a 12-month validity period, the Indian government is ensuring the effectiveness of this anti-smoking measure by preventing the general public from becoming accustomed to the shocking images.

  ©Tobacco Free Generation

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[1] Special correspondent, Specified health warning on tobacco products packs, The Hindu Online (New Delhi: July 23, 2020 - accessed July 24, 2020). [2] SHARMA Saumya, Enhanced and revised pictorial health warnings on tobacco products from Dec 1, Hindustan Times (New Delhi: July 24, 2020 - accessed July 24, 2020). [3] Tribune News Service, Govt notifies new enhanced pictorial health warnings for tobacco products, Tribune India (New Delhi: July 23, 2020 - accessed July 24, 2020). [4] CHAUBEY Arun Kumar, Health Ministry notifies new pictorial health warnings for tobacco products, ZeeNews (New Delhi: July 23, 2020 - accessed July 24, 2020). DNF - For a Zero Tobacco World | MT