India is on the 100th Position in Campaign against Tobacco

The Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report was released during WHO’s FCTC meeting in Uruguay in mid November 2010. India ranks 100 among 175 countries according to the report that ranks countries according to how successfully they managed to introduce pictorial health warnings on tobacco packets. The countries surveyed on the basis of warning size and fulfilment of requirements for picture-based warnings on cigarette packets. Under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an international treaty signed and ratified by India, the parties to the convention are required to carry health warnings on all packages of tobacco products describing the harmful effects of tobacco use. The framework specifies that the warnings should cover 50% or more of the principal display areas, but shall be no less than 30% of the display areas.

India had to implement pictorial health warnings within a time frame of three years of coming into force of FCTC on 27 February 2008. A set of mild and ineffective warnings were introduced from 31 May 2009, which was more than 15 months after the treaty deadline though the field tested effective pictorial health warnings were notified back in July 2006. The warnings were to be rotated every 12 months, for which a new set of field tested pictorial health warnings were notified in March. The implementation of the pictorial health warnings were deferred to 1 December 2010 from the earlier selected date of 1 June 2010.