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World No Tobacco Day 2008
Indian Perspective
In India, tobacco attributable
deaths range to nearly one million per year. India
is a young country and youth comprise of nearly 50% of the total population in India. It is noteworthy and commendable that the
Govt. of India is pursuing strong policies and efforts to control tobacco use
and has enacted various tobacco control laws to protect youth from tobacco
use. Young children are the
most vulnerable population who are exposed to second hand smoke (SHS). Prevalence of tobacco use among
young school children is quite alarming as they are most vulnerable
population exposed to tobacco use. As per Global Youth Tobacco Survey 2006, the prevalence of
tobacco use among 13-15 year old school children in India is
14.1%.
Policy /action taken by the
Govt. of India to protect youth:
In view of the huge loss caused by tobacco use to the
public health exchequer, the Govt. of India initiated and enacted the national
tobacco-control legislation namely, “The Cigarettes and other Tobacco
Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce,
Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003” on 18th May 2003. This
comprehensive tobacco control legislation prohibits direct and indirect
advertising on all tobacco products.
Section
4 of Tobacco Control Act,
2003 provides prohibition of smoking in all public places.
 Smoking
in all “public places” is prohibited to protect youth from the ill-effects of
passive smoking.
Section
5 of Tobacco Control Act,
2003 provides prohibition of advertisement of tobacco products in all forms
of audio, visual and print media.
Ban on sale of tobacco products through
vending machines
Ban on visible stacking of tobacco products at
the point of sale to prevent easy access to minors.
Ban on sale of tobacco products by minors.
Prohibition/restrictions on display of tobacco
products or their use in movies or television. This prohibition has been made to ensure that films and
television do not become a medium for promoting tobacco products to the
vulnerable youth audience. Various studies have shown that exposure to
smoking in movies has been linked with adolescent smoking initiation.
Restrictions on the content, size and number
of point of sale of advertisements
Section 6 (a) of Tobacco Control Act, 2003
provides;
Sale of tobacco products to persons under the
age of 18 is prohibited.
The seller should ensure that the person who
is buying the tobacco product is not a minor.
A display board to be put up at the point of
sale declaring that “sale of tobacco products to minors is prohibited”.
(b) Prohibits sale
of tobacco products within a radius of one hundred yards of any educational
institutions.
The
owner or in-charge of affairs of educational institution shall display
a board outside the premises prominently stating that “sale of cigarettes and
other tobacco products in an area within a radius of one hundred yards of the
educational institution is strictly
prohibited” and it is an offence punishable with the fine which may extend to
200 Rupees.
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