New Delhi, Nov 14: The tobacco industry is putting
"pressure" on the Health Ministry to revise the Anti-Tobacco
Act, the ministry has alleged before the Central Information
Commission.
"There is pressure on the Ministry to revise the Anti
Tobacco Act by the tobacco industry," Health Ministry`s CPIO
submitted before Information Commissioner Annapurna Dixit
during the hearing of an RTI plea of Shanmuga Patro who sought
recommendations and reports on the basis of which amendments
were made in the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act.
The ministry also said in its submission before the CIC
that there are number of ongoing cases in the Himachal Pradesh
High Court and revealing any details about the meetings of
group of ministers in this regard would weaken the stand of
the government.
Dixit accepted the arguments of the Health Ministry and
asked them to forward Patro`s application to Parliament so
that affidavits filed by the government in the High Court, in
the case, can be provided to him.
Last month, the Health Ministry gave nod for labelling
the cigarette and bidi retails packs, to be started from
December 1, with gory pictures of cancer and other diseases
caused due to tobacco consumption.
In the order, the government had relaxed the norms for
the big bidi packages exempting it from such depictions. It
allowed manufacturers to display specified health warnings on
retail packages only.
The relaxation allegedly came under pressure from
different industry associations, including the All India Bidi
Industries Federation.
The government had notified "The Cigarettes and Other
Tobacco Products (Packing and Labelling) Rules" in 2006. It
mandated every package of cigarette or any other tobacco
product to contain the specified health warning comprising of
skull and bones sign, a health warning, a gory picture of
ill-effects of tobacco use and a health message.
These rules were to be implemented from February, 2007
but stiff opposition and litigations from the industry
resulted in the delay. The industry associations claimed that
it will adversely affect the business and may also result in
job loss for poor workers.
Bureau Report
