Depiction of Ingredients on Tobacco Packaging

Section 7 (5) of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA) provides for the following:  

“…..No person shall, directly or indirectly, produce, supply or distribute cigarettes or any other tobacco products unless every package of cigarettes or any other tobacco products produced, supplied or distributed by him indicates thereon, or on its label, the nicotine and tar contents on each cigarette or as the case may be on other tobacco products along with the maximum permissible limits thereof:”

However, the said section has not been notified in the absence of adequate testing facilities for tobacco products. Only limited testing facilities are available to test tobacco products with the Food and Drug laboratories.

The following steps have been undertaken by the Government for depiction of contents /ingredients on tobacco product packages:-

1)     Five existing labs (1 Apex and 4 regional testing labs) have been identified whose capacity will be augmented to undertake the task of tobacco product testing. The details of the labs are given below:-

Phase	Name and Details of the Laboratory	Status: Apex/ Regional
Phase I	1.      Food Research and Standardization Laboratory (FRSL), Ghaziabad, Indirapuram, Ahinsa Khand-II, Near CISF, Ghaziabad-201014	Apex
Phase I	2.      Regional Drug Testing Laboratory, Sixth Mile, Khanapara, Guwahati-781037, Assam	Regional
Phase I	3.      Central Drugs Testing Laboratory-Mumbai,  Government Medical Stores Depot Compound, Belasis Road, Opp. Sahil Hotel, Mumbai Central, Mumbai 400008	Regional
Phase II	4.      Central Drug Testing Laboratory, Hyderabad,CDSCO, Zonal office Hyderabad CDSCO BHAVAN, Beside T.B. & Demonstration Centre,  S.R. Nagar, Hyderabad - 500038,	Regional
Phase II	5.      Regional Drug Testing Laboratory, Chandigarh Sector 39C, Sector 39, Chandigarh, 160036	Regional

2)     Technical Specification Committee has been constituted and it has finalized the technical specifications of the major equipments for the labs for central procurement.

3)     An expert team from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare including a Central Design Bureau Architect has visited the identified laboratories and prepared recommended out-lay designs.

4)     A project proposal identifying the equipments, manpower and budget requirements and activities therein to be taken up for the project etc has been finalized.

5)     The Ministry constituted a Committee in 2014 to review and suggest amendments to the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA). The Committee  has recommended the following: -

a)     Do away with the mandatory provision of depiction of tar and nicotine contents with maximum permissible limit on packages of tobacco products.

b)     Replace the term nicotine and tar with “constituents and emissions”.

c)     Disclose periodically and upon request the constituents and emissions on tobacco products to government in a prescribed manner.

The Health Minister, Shri J P Nadda stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today(24-07-2015).

Courtesy:pib.nic.in