T he current pictorial health warnings used on Indian tobacco products are ineffective compared to the pictorial warnings mandated in 2006 and present international health warnings, as per a recent survey.



Among the different types of tobacco users the percentage of tobacco users who either read or looked at the warning labels was low compared to other countries, according to national survey conducted by Healis -Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, an anti-tobacco advocacy group.



It was found that only 20.6 per cent of cigarette smokers, 15 per cent of bidi smokers and 13.2 per cent of smokeless tobacco users either read or looked at the warning labels while this was reported as 91 per cent in Canada from a survey conducted in the year 2000.



During the study, three sets of pictorial health warnings -- current, mandated in 2006 and international pictorial warnings were used.



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