FSSAI MOOTS MANDATORY DISCLOSURE OF KEY CIGARETTE INGREDIENTS ON PACKS

In a move that will bring Indian companies on par with their global peers, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) proposes to make it mandatory for manufacturers of cigarettes to disclose the amount of NICOTINE and TAR - two crucial ingredients that go into the making of cigarettes - on packs. FSSAI will soon issue a notification to this effect. The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003 (also called COTPA), which regulates the trade and commerce as well as advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco-related products, incidentally, has a provision for declaration of the contents going into a cigarette. But owing to the lack of dedicated Research laboratories, the government did not notify the rule so far, and cigarette manufacturers have also raised the same issue in support of their resistance to declaration of the ingredients. At the moment, Indian manufacturers have graphic as well as text warnings such as “Smoking Kills” and “Tobacco Causes Cancer” on packs to alert consumers of the ill-effects of smoking. Six Tobacco Research laboratories are being set up at the moment by Government of India in Chandigarh, Gujarat, Noida, Ghaziabad, Chennai and Kolkata at a total cost of Rs 57 crore. These labs will be established with support from the World Health Organization (WHO).