Pictures to scare tobacco users after Dec 1

NEW DELHI: The Centre has come up with specific pictorial warnings for all tobacco products, including cigarettes, gutkha and bidi, which manufacturers will have to mandatorily print on packets after December 1. According to industry estimates, about 10-15% of tobacco consumers are likely to kick the habit after being exposed to the repulsive pictures, which includes cancerous growth and bodies.

The pictures show deformed faces with warnings such as ‘Tobacco kills’ and ‘Your smoking kills babies’. The original proposal to print skull & cross bones on packets has been dropped in the recent packaging and labelling rule and has been replaced with pictorial representation of bodies.

Tobacco companies told ET that such stark pictorial warnings will negatively impact sales by at least 10-15%. Further, producers will have to incur a repackaging cost of about 10-20%. Industry representatives also said the time given to implement the warnings was not adequate.

“We are ready to print the warnings, but we feel December 1 is an impractical deadline. Also, the impact of this directive on farmers will have to be examined,” said a spokesperson for market leader ITC.

Another player, Godfrey Phillips India (GPI), plans to seek technical clarification from the government on specifics such as the required colour combination of the graphics and its size, following which it would implement the warnings. “There will definitely be an impact on consumers. We expect a shift away from consumption. But it’s too early to assess the exact impact yet,” said GPI’s executive VP (marketing) Nita Kapoor.

The move is expected to reduce the consumption of smoking and non-smoking tobacco products. “The move is certain to impact consumption across the industry by about 10-15%,” DS Group chairman Ravinder Kumar said. The DS Group makes leading chewing tobacco brands such as Baba and Tulsi, and Rajnigandha pan masala.

The government has also specified pictorial warnings in regional languages. Health minister A Ramadoss brought in the warnings as the incidence of tobacco-induced diseases has been rising sharply in the country, driving a hole in the coffers available for fighting malnutrition and disease control.