The newly selected pictorial warning of mouth cancer which was to be introduced from December on tobacco products has hit a roadblock. A week before the new pictorial warnings were to take effect,the Union Health Ministry has decided to go to the Cabinet to dilute and delay the warnings once again. The mouth cancer picture had been approved by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad earlier this year after a survey revealed that the existing pictorial warnings showing a scorpion on bidi packs and a cancer-affected lung on cigarette packs were not making the desired impact. An informal Group of Ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee,and including Azad,Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel,met earlier this month,where it was decided that the warnings be diluted and delayed. Sources in the ministry said the Health Ministry is likely to approach the Cabinet as early as Thursday and may propose rotation of pictorial warnings every two years,which would mean no change in the existing pictorial warnings for another year. As per the ministrys earlier notification,the warnings were to be rotated every 12 months to ensure maximum impact. The ministry is also likely to propose some other photo to the Cabinet. During their meeting,the GoM asked the Directorate of Advertisement and Visual Publicity (DAVP) to provide pictorial alternatives which could be used on tobacco products other than the gory picture of mouth cancer. This is not the first time pictorial warnings have run into rough weather,with the tobacco lobby pressuring the government to put off the same. After the law to have pictorial warnings on tobacco products was implemented in March 2009,the warnings should have been changed in March 2010,but the government extended the time to December 1,2010. Since its constitution in early 2007,the GoM has already delayed the implementation of pictorial warnings for two years,diluted stronger warnings for milder ones,and reduced size of the warnings from 50% of the principal display area to 40%. About 30-odd countries use pictorial warnings on tobacco products.
