Days after its order to extend the duration of existing pictorial warnings till August 3, the Union Health Ministry has further tightened the noose by making it mandatory for the tobacco manufactures to print a toll-free ‘quitline’ number on all tobacco product packets.
It’s for the the first time a 'Quitline' number --1800- 11-2356 ---has been made mandatory on all tobacco product packets.
Along with the Quitline number, a new set of shocking and gruesome health warning pictures, to be displayed on packets to make people understand the risks of tobacco use, are also issued in an order.
The decision to include 'Quitline' follows a survey conducted by Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, University of Delhi which said that nearly 40 per cent of the 5,179 people, who had signed up with the health ministry's national tobacco cessation helpline, quit smoking and chewing tobacco, according to official data. A total of 2,010 registered callers have quit tobaccouse after counseling since the toll-free helpline number -- 1800- 11-2356 -- was launched in May last year.
The tobacco cessation programme was launched by Health Minister J P Nadda.
Regarding pictorial warnings, the ministry order stated: "During the rotation period, there shall be two images of specified health warning which shall appear consecutively on the package with an interregnum period of twelve months…The date of coming into effect of the second image of specified health warning shall be for all tobacco products manufactured or imported after the completion of twelve months from the date of commencement of first image."
For smoking and smokeless forms of tobacco products, the message 'Tobacco causes cancer' and "Tobacco causes painful death' will appear in white font colour on a red background and the words 'Quit Today Call 1800-11-2356' will appear in white on a black background.
The Ministry has also specified the intensity of colour in the background of the textual warning. They should be printed with four colours with a resolution of minimum 300 dots per inch. The font type and colour of the health warning should be exactly as specified.