Breaking New Grounds in Tobacco Control - Voluntary Health ...

into force on 1st December, 2011 which
is now presumed as specifying the date
of manufacture of the tobacco product.
The implementation of even these diluted
warnings with delays have been feasible
because of the PILs filed by civil society
organizations and consequent court
judgements in their favour. 22
Steps Needed for Advancing
Tobacco Control
A uniform shortcoming is an inadequate
dissemination of the law and its provisions
to the general public and specifically
to those responsible for enforcement
and implementation. For example, all
workplaces and their managers need to
be informed that smoking is not allowed.
Educational institutions need to be
empowered to enforce that no tobacco is
sold within 100 yards.
Within the near future, it is important
that loopholes in the law be closed and
certain provisions added. The two most
important loopholes to remove are perhaps
withdrawal of 1) the provision of smoking
room in restaurants, hotel and airports;
and, 2) the exemption of the point of
sale from the ban on advertisements.
In terms of upgrading the law, Australia
has already shown the way and plain
packaging of all tobacco products should
be made mandatory. Also a display of
tobacco products at the point of sale and
at any other place need to be deemed
as advertisements and banned under
Section 5.
The laws that promote the tobacco
industry need to be amended. Specifically
the Tobacco Board Act 1975 should be
amended to make the Tobacco Board of
India responsible for replacing tobacco
For the Millions
n 6
cultivation with alternate crops, rather
than promoting tobacco.
A regulatory mechanism at the national
level with representation from the legal,
medical and scientific communities has
already been envisioned and that could
help a great deal in the implementation
and strengthening of tobacco control in
India. 23
References
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Jha P, Jacob B, Gajalakshmi V, Gupta PC,
Dhingra N, Kumar R, et al. A Nationally
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