[Intl-tobacco] India: Ban on smoking in films to be effective from Oct 2

[Robert Weissman]

    Ban on smoking in films to be effective from Oct 2

*Press Trust of India*

Chennai, September 2, 2005






























The ban on smoking scenes in movies and television serials will come
into effect on October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti), Union Health Minister
Anbumani Ramadoss said on Friday.

Brushing aside the film industry's opposition to the ban, he said, "The
ban is a law. All the citizens should abide by the law."

The Centre was also contemplating bringing in a notification to ensure
that a pictorial warning was printed prominently on cigarette packets.

Under the notification, the statutory warning should use up at least 50
per cent of the space on the cigarette packet. Such warnings were
already in place in countries like Canada, he said.

The country might have to think of a total ban on tobacco products in
another 10 or 15 years as the number of tobacco related diseases were
increasing alarmingly, he said.

On the ban on sale of non-iodised salt, he said the Centre had only
brought in a draft notification. It would take another two months to
issue a final notification.

Only after this would the ban come into effect, Ramadoss said adding
only salt meant for human consumption would come under the ban. "There
is no ban on the sale of non-iodised salt for other purposes and there
is no ban on the production of common salt."



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