The text warnings to be printed on the packs are: “Tobacco causes painful death” and “Tobacco causes cancer”, in large capital letters in white against a red background.
From September, all cigarette packs and tobacco products will carry a Quit-line helpline number along with a new set of pictorial and text warnings that will cover 85 per cent of the packs of such products, a notification issued on Tuesday by the Union Health Ministry said. The products include cigarette, bidi and chewing tobacco packs.
The text warnings to be printed on the packs are: “Tobacco causes painful death” and “Tobacco causes cancer”, in large capital letters in white against a red background. The helpline number — 1800-11-2356 — would appear in white letters on a black background, the notification said. The pictorial warnings will also be more graphic, it said. Quit-line is a toll-free helpline number that was launched in 2016 to counsel smokers to quit.
From April 2016, the Health Ministry implemented large pictorial health warnings, occupying 85 per cent on both sides of all packages of cigarettes, bidis and all forms of chewing tobacco products.