Since April 1, Indian tobacco manufacturers have been required to include a new set of graphic health warnings on their packaging, according to a story by India TV.
Under new Health Ministry rules, manufacturers are required to display graphic pictures of throat cancer on cigarette and bidi packs and pictures of mouth cancer on chewing tobacco packs.
India TV reported that, according to the Health Ministry’s website, the government notified new health warnings on October 15, 2014, and issued a notification dated September 24, 2015, for the mandatory display of new health warnings covering 85 percent of the principal display areas on all tobacco products from April 1, 2016.
‘As per rules, during the rotation period of 24 months, two images of specified health warnings as notified in the schedule, shall be displayed on all tobacco product packages and each of the images shall appear consecutively on the package with an interregnum period of 12 months,’ the notice said.
‘Further as per notification dated March 24, 2017, all tobacco products manufactured on or after April 1, 2017, shall display the second image of specified health warning.’
In fact, the introduction of the 85 percent health warnings was a chaotic affair that resulted in manufacturers having to shut down their operations because of uncertainty surrounding the timing of the introduction of the warnings.