Govt considering tobacco industry request on pictorial warning

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday said it is "actively considering" a request from the tobacco industry to increase the duration of display of a particular pictorial warning in cigarette packets.

There are two existing pictorial warnings like scorpion and damaged lungs while a new and stricter one -- a cancer- stricken mouth, was to be depicted from December 1. Such warnings are to be rotated every year.

Tobacco companies, which were under an impression that the timeline for 'mouth cancer' warning would get pushed back, had made representations to the Health Ministry seeking clarity on the matter.

They have insisted that the existing cigarette stock lying with the retailers should be allowed to be sold first and if the new warning must come into effect then its duration should be increased to two or three years so that companies do not need to print new packets every year.

"While the Health Ministry advocates lessening use of tobacco, the request of the tobacco industry is being actively considered," sources at the ministry said.

The state exchequer earns Rs 27,000 crore revenue every year from sale of cigarettes and bidis.

Tobacco majors ITC and Godfrey Phillips India (GPI) have stopped production of cigarettes citing lack of clarity on the issue. An ITC spokesperson today said, "units (for making cigarettes) are shut because of the ambiguity in pictorial warnings to be carried from December 1 onwards."

Similarly, production has been stalled since December 1 onwards at GPI's two units in India. The development may cost the state exchequer Rs 100 crore per day.