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Tobacco companies in SC against tightening pictorial-warnings on cigarette-packs

Kashmir Times. Dated: 7/18/2018 12:44:50 AM

Dear Editor,
It refers to former Attorney General and senior advocate arguing in Supreme Court for tobacco-companies that any further tightening rules for pictorial warnings on packs of cigarettes and tobacco will hurt business of tobacco-companies overlooking the fact that public-health is far more important than business-income of tobacco-companies. Government spends much more on tobacco-related dieses than earned from taxes on tobacco-products. Even presently, proportion of pictorial-warning area on cigarette packs in India is lowest in the world with Brazil even having 100-percent area on both front and pack panels of cigarette-packs. In fact, pictorial-warnings however bigger or stringent are totally useless and ineffective for smokers.
However Mukul Rohatgi was perfectly justified in demanding scautioning to be printed on chocolates that consumption may lead to diabetes. Rather all sweet-packs must have similar statuary-warning printed on sweet-packs putting sweets in 28-percent GST-slab.
Only remedy for effectively curbing smoking is to follow sensible countries like Bhutan and Ireland by imposing a complete ban on manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the country. Even family-members of smokers will support such a bold step, because it is the family which suffers from death of persons caused by smoking. Smoking is an addiction started out of fashion at the young age when initial puffs even cause discomfort. If self-regulation is the policy to check human evils, then Union Government should withdraw attempt-to-suicide from Indian Penal Code. Likewise using helmets by scooterists should also be made self-regulatory rather than being forced as compulsory.
—Madhu Agrawal,
1775 Kucha Lattushah
Dariba, Chandni Chowk Delhi.