Date: 12/08/09
Venue: Hotel Marison, Bhubaneswar

A media advocacy workshop was organized by Aparajita Voluntary Health Association of India and  Voluntary Health Association of India at Hotel Marion, Bhubaneswar on 12 August 2009. Over 60 people comprising media persons, NGOs, students and activists working for tobacco control attended the workshop. Mr Bijay Kumar Sharma, Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar - Cuttack was the chief guest.

Ms Itishree Kanungo, Aparajita VHAI, welcomed the participants. Dr Rath, a renowned oncologist of the Hemlata Cancer Hospital began his presentation on the use of tobacco and health effects. In his presentation Dr Rath stressed on the fact that tobacco use in responsible for the death of 10 lakh Indians every year. He said that a majority of the deaths are preventable and added that it is necessary to inform and educate people about the harmful health effects of tobacco.

Dr Rath said that most of the people who consume tobacco know that there are some health risks involved but feel that after some time they will get rid of this habit. He said not only cancer but a lot of diseases, which affect the entire body, happen due to the use of tobacco.

Addressing the workshop, Mr Sharma, Commissioner of Police, said that tobacco use is a social evil and that it needs to be curbed. He said that initially when the idea of tobacco control came up, he was skeptical of the role that the police could play. Later he said that he agreed that police has an important role to play but at the same time he said that fines are not the only solution. Mr Sharma said that it is more important to make the people aware of the harmful health effects of the use of tobacco and said that law enforcement agencies have a secondary role to play in curbing the consumption of tobacco. He said that in Bhubaneswar most of the hotels, restaurants, bars, are smoke free.

Mr Sharma said that from 2011, the licenses of hotels, bars and restaurants would only be given and renewed if they owners and managers make the premises smoke free.

Mr A P Sinha, Programme Officer, Media, VHAI, New Delhi spoke on pictorial warnings, their necessity and the struggle which led to the implementation of pictorial health warnings on packages of tobacco products. He also spoke on the case filed by Health for Millions and the court proceedings. Mr Sinha said that from 31 May 2009, pictorial health warnings on packets of tobacco products have to be displayed as per
the orders of the highest court of the land. He said that many tobacco products packets have started displaying pictorial warnings.

Mr Sinha said that according to the Supreme Court, all packets of tobacco products have to carry pictorial health warning on atleast 40 % of 1 side of the packet of tobacco product. He told the gathering that there are many tobacco products that are displaying the pictorial warnings though the there a number of tobacco products like bidis which are not carrying the warnings. He spoke of the study conducted by VHAI in Delhi and said that over 16 brands consisting of gutka, pan masala, other chewable tobacco products, cigarettes and bidis, carrying pictorial health warnings, were surveyed, He said that most of the gutka and other chewable tobacco companies which have printed pictorial warnings on their brands have actually minimized the size of the health messages in violation of the government’s notification to implement the new packaging and labeling rules.

Mr Sinha also spoke on the various provisions of COTPA with special emphasis on Section 5, 6 and 7. He spoke on the ban on tobacco advertising and surrogate advertising. He said that there are provisions that expressly ban the sale from minors of tobacco products and also the sale by minors of such products.

After each of the presentation, there were a number of queries by the assembled media persons which were answered with great care and diligence by the panelists. The event saw a very large participation from media persons who wanted to know about various provisions of the Indian tobacco control law – COTPA 2003. Many questions were also raised on pictorial warnings, their effectiveness, and the way some brands in Orissa were not implementing pictorial warnings. Most media persons expressed interest in tobacco control actions undertaken by VHAI and Aparajita VHAI.