Pic and choose: Statutory warnings go up in smoke?

News :- Pic and choose: Statutory warnings go up in smoke?

Times of India

April 15 2007

Kanpur.

" [But would pictures serve as a viable method in India which is home to 200 million tobacco users?] "

The Health Minister wants tobacco products to carry pictorial warnings to discourage consumers. Will pictures speak louder than words? In an attempt to promote healthy living and dissuade people from smoking, the Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss recently announced that it would be mandatory for tobacco companies to carry pictorial warnings including photographs of corpses, disfigurements caused due to cancer and smoking induced impotency on cigarette and pan masala packets.

While written statutory warnings have not been able to discourage people from smoking, we find out whether picture support would prove helpful for the anti-tobacco cause or if there's a need for a stronger campaign to cut down on tobacco consumption in the country.

According to Ramadoss, no matter what the size of the packet, tobacco companies will not be able to sell their products sans pictorial warnings. But would pictures serve as a viable method in India which is home to 200 million tobacco users? "Any kind of effort to discourage people from smoking is worth applauding. What needs to be done is to make continuous efforts, lest the issue lose its seriousness," opines adman Prasoon Joshi, who had worked on a lot of anti-smoking campaigns, the latest being with Viveik Oberoi and Urmila Matondkar.

Reacting to the announcement of the Ministry, actor Suresh Oberoi, who was a chain smoker earlier, says, "When my own son stood up for this cause, I decided to kick the habit. As for the pictorial warnings, well, they would indeed catch the attention of the people, but I think those who've remained unperturbed by written statutory warnings will not be affected by pictures either." "I believe a sound campaign against tobacco consumption is required to spread awareness about the ill-effects of the same," adds Oberoi.

Interestingly, Ramadoss' proposal is not novel and pictoral warnings on tobacco products are already in place in Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Singapore. The European Union too has been pushing for pictorial warnings on cigarette packets, with Belgium already bringing in legislation to this effect.

online availabe at - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City_Supplements/Kanpur_Times/Pic_and_choose_Statutory_warnings_go_up_in_smoke/articleshow/1907330.cms