Health Ministry in talks with HRD to introduce anti-tobacco warnings

New Delhi:  After increasing the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco products, the Health Ministry is in talks with HRD Ministry to introduce messages related to ill effects of consumption of tobacco in schools.

Health Ministry officials said that although the idea is not to bring a separate chapter in textbooks, the warnings can either be on textbook covers or in form of posters which could be distributed to schools so that they can put it up.

"The idea is not a chapter in a textbook. The idea is to introduce these things through warnings etc to make students aware. There are two-three options. What can happen is either the back cover or inside cover can have these messages.

"We can separately give posters to all the schools so that they can put it up in their campuses. Things like that are under consideration and talks are presently going on," a senior Health Ministry official said.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda had recently said that the idea behind this is to "catch them young" so that the children are aware of the ill effects of consumption of tobacco.

The Health Ministry through its notification has made it mandatory for tobacco products to carry larger pictorial warnings covering 85 per cent of the packaging space.

The Health Ministry's notification of September 24, 2015, for implementation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labeling) Amendment Rules, 2014, that came into force on April 1 prescribe larger pictorial warnings on tobacco products.

On the eve of World No Tobacco Tobacco Day, World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday said that the use of tobacco continues to be a major public health issue across South East Asian region including India as it kills on an average around 150 persons every hour.