The WHO has described the debate on the pictorial warning space in tobacco packs as worrisome, in the wake of a Parliamentary panels recommendation to reduce the warning space to 50% of the display area.The plan to reduce the warning space is up against the centres plan to print the warnings on 85% of the space.The current debate on reducing size of pack warnings, especially on bidis and smokeless tobacco is worrisome, especially because large and prominent health warnings have shown to be a cost-effective means of increasing public awareness of the health effects of tobacco use and in reducing tobacco consumption, Henk Bekedam, World Health Organisation (WHO) India representative said in a statement
While less ubiquitous than cigarettes, chewing tobacco use persists as a global public health challenge despite being incorporated in the FCTC statutes of 138 countries 1,2,3
But in this case, none of the available tools are perfect
Although the statistics for women are better only 11 percent of woman reported using tobacco the number of people quitting is shockingly low, dropping below 20 percent in China and India
When in doubt I like to consult the experts, and if they all agree then there tends to be a good reason
