The road to a few square inches of space may rarely have been so hotly contested but implementing tobacco control measures has never been easy anywhere in the world.
Monday’s Supreme Court stay on the Karnataka High Court order against 85% pictorial warnings on tobacco packets is admittedly just a temporary reprieve, the apex court will take a final call on the matter at a later stage. However the fact that the court remained unimpressed by the submissions of the tobacco industry would come as a ray of hope for those battling big tobacco.
“Though a… submission has been advanced… that it will affect their business, we have remained unimpressed… as we are inclined to think that health of a citizen has primacy and he or she should be aware of that which can affect or deteriorate the condition of health,” a three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India said in an order on Monday.
There is much at stake.
According to a ministry of health-WHO supported study, Economic Burden of Tobacco-Related Diseases in India, the estimated total costs attributable to tobacco use in the year 2011 amounted to a staggering Rs 1, 04,500 crores — 12% more than the combined state and central government expenditure on health care in the same year, and 1.16 percent of Indian GDP.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ”
Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body. More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness. Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis. Secondhand smoke exposure contributes to approximately 41,000 deaths among nonsmoking adults and 400 deaths in infants each year.”
Larger pictorial warnings on tobacco packets came into effect on April 1 2016 after many twists and turns since a 2014 notification travelled to fruition through court rooms and Parliamentary committees. It made its mark too in the brief while that it has been around.
The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016-17 released by Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) showed that  62% of cigarette smokers and 54% of bidi smokers had thought of quitting because of the 85 percent pictorial warnings on the packets. And 46% of smokeless tobacco users thought of quitting because of the warnings on smokeless tobacco products.  Such tobacco control efforts have saved 81 lakhs lives in India as per GATS-2.
The warnings were implemented after a July 2015 order of the Rajasthan High Court – and put on hold by last month’s order of the Karnataka High Court, now stayed by the Supreme Court.
Three judgements, four years and many discussions later, India, it seems still has some distance to traverse it seems before it manages a final seal of approval on larger pictorial warnings.
Over to the Supreme Court now.
