Kathmandu. The Ministry of Health and Population has urged the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies to review the decision to place 100% deadly pictures on the front and back of tobacco products.
Durga Lamsal, Branch Officer of the Industrial and Investment Promotion Division of the Ministry of Industry, has written to the Ministry of Health, informing that they have requested a review of the decision to place 100% deadly pictures on the front and back of tobacco products.
The Department of Industry had held discussions among stakeholders regarding placing 100% deadly pictures on the front and back of tobacco products. In the discussion, he said that a review of the policy and legal provisions for placing 100% dangerous pictures on the front and back of tobacco products was requested.
He urged a review of the issue of placing 100% dangerous pictures as there have been requests from the concerned parties for a smooth industrial environment without any new arrangements that would affect the industry and business.
The ‘Guidelines for Printing and Marking Warning Messages and Pictures on Tobacco Product Boxes, Packets, Wrappers, Boxes and Parcels, Packaging, 2081’ prepared by the Ministry of Health has made it mandatory to print dangerous colored pictures and warning messages on the front and back of 100% of cigarettes and tobacco products. .
The said provision will make it mandatory to print dangerous colored pictures on the front and back of 100 percent of tobacco products including cigarettes, khaini, gutkha, bidi, etc. from the upcoming Shrawan. Gopikrishna Regmi, head of the legal department of the Ministry of Health, informed that they will not deviate from the provisions in the directive.
“The directive has been made after extensive discussions to discourage tobacco users by placing deadly colored pictures on the front and back of 100 percent of tobacco products,” he said. “The Ministry of Industry has been asked to review the provisions in the directive. We will implement the provision of placing 100 percent deadly colored pictures on tobacco products from Shrawan as per the provisions in the directive.”
The directive stipulates that 80 percent of the front and back of the main part of cigarettes, khaini, bidi and gutkha boxes, packets and wrappers should have deadly colored pictures such as cancer and death, and 20 percent of the main part should have warning messages.
According to the guidelines, 80 percent of the front and back of the main part of cigarette packs, packets and wrappers should have pictures of throat cancer, pictures of low birth weight, disabled or stillborn babies, pictures of mouth cancer, pictures of heart attack and pictures of lung cancer.
Similarly, 20 percent of the front and back of the main part of cigarette packs, packets and wrappers should have pictures that say tobacco products are harmful to health, smoking kills, tobacco consumption causes mouth and throat cancer and stop smoking cigarettes and khaini tobacco. .
Similarly, the guidelines state that 60 percent of the front and back of tobacco products such as khaini, tobacco and gutkha should have a picture of oral cancer and two warning messages of 20 percent each on the remaining 40 percent of the front.
Similarly, the guidelines state that 80 percent of the front and back of bidi packets, packets and wrappers should have a picture of throat cancer and a picture of a low-birthweight, disabled or stillborn child. Similarly, awareness messages should be placed on 20 percent of bidi boxes, packets and wrappers.
Similarly, the directive states that the messages printed on boxes, parcels and packaging of tobacco products should be printed with five dangerous colored pictures in 80 percent and awareness messages in 20 percent. The Tobacco Control and Regulation Directive, 2071 BS, has increased the 75 percent warning pictures and messages on tobacco product packets to 90 percent, informed Dr. Bhakta KC, Information Officer of the Ministry.
Nepal had even received the Bloomberg Award for increasing the warning pictures and messages from 75 to 90 percent. He said that placing 100% awareness-raising pictures and messages on tobacco products will reduce sales as consumers will be afraid to smoke cigarettes, tobacco, and gutkha.
“Consumers will be scared by the dangerous pictures on cigarettes, tobacco, and gutkha and will gradually stop smoking,” he said. “There is a global consensus that new smokers will not be attracted to dangerous pictures and awareness-raising messages.” The guidelines also state that the colors of the dangerous pictures should be kept in a way that is not appealing to people.
Ministry spokesperson Dr. Prakash Budhathoki said that since such warnings are being used in Nepal as well, the revised guidelines will reduce the number of tobacco and cigarette users and reduce the incidence of cancer and other diseases. According to the ministry, more than 27,000 people die every year in Nepal due to tobacco use.
Parents smoking and consuming tobacco products increases health risks for children and other family members, including respiratory problems, heart disease, and cancer.
A survey conducted by the Nepal Health Research Council found that 28.9 percent of people in Nepal use tobacco products. Of these, 48.3 percent are men and 11.6 percent are women.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), eight million people die every year due to tobacco use in the world. Of these, more than 7 million deaths are caused by direct tobacco use, while more than 1.2 million deaths are caused by non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke.
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