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One Month After Sunita’s Death, India Still Waits for its Government to #AnswerSunita

Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”

(New Delhi, India and New York, USA) – World Lung Foundation (WLF) today urged the government of India to take decisive action to move ahead with the implementation of large graphic health warnings on tobacco packs, with immediate effect. One month has passed since a parliamentary panel – including MPs with links to the tobacco industry in India – caused the delay of the legislation just as it was due to be implemented. The government has the authority to set aside the recommendations of the panel and introduce the legislation without further delay.

It is also one month since the death of Sunita Tomar, whose final acts included writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the adoption of large graphic warnings so others need not suffer tobacco-related disease and premature death. In fact, a death clock at www.bit.ly/AnswerSunita shows that more than 80,000 other Indian citizens have died from tobacco-related causes throughout April.

During the past 30 days, a social media campaign entitled “#AnswerSunita” has sought to raise awareness of the devastating harm caused by tobacco in India and the benefits of implementing large graphic warnings. By mid-April, the campaign had generated nearly 749,000 impressions on Twitter and hundreds of social media users – men and women of all ages – had shown their support for the campaign across different social media platforms. 
 
Nandita Murukulta, Country Director, India and Director – Global Research and Evaluation, World Lung Foundation, said: “The tobacco industry is on record as saying that it aims to target women, children, the poor and the vulnerable. That’s exactly why large graphic warnings are so important; they are hard to ignore and they communicate the real harms of tobacco in a way that anyone can understand irrespective of their level of literacy. Graphic warnings deter young people from starting to use tobacco and encourage current tobacco users to cut down and quit. That’s why tobacco companies lobby so hard and spread so much misinformation to stop large graphic warnings, but we can’t let tobacco’s self-interest take precedence over public health.  
 
“While we hear positive comments from the Health Minister that the government will move ahead, there still is no timetable for progress. That is worrying. Every day of delay is another day when India’s young and vulnerable remain ignorant of the true dangers of tobacco and at risk of starting a habit that will hurt and kill them. Many of India’s media outlets have been supportive of large graphic warnings. Youth organisations have rallied to show their support. Eminent Indian doctors and scientists have warned of the dangers of tobacco and agreed on the need for these warnings. Thousands of social media users – men and women of all ages – have expressed their support. Meanwhile, India’s neighbours are moving ahead with large graphic warnings to protect their citizens. When it comes to improving public health, India and her people should not be left behind. The time to act is now.”  
 
Tobacco use in India – a growing health and economic problem. According to The Tobacco Atlas, nearly a quarter (23.2%) of adult males, 3.2% of adult females, 5.8% of boys and 2.4% of girls smoke tobacco in India. In addition, more than a quarter (25.9%) of adults use smokeless tobacco. In total, more than 2,542,000 children and more than 120,000,000 adults in India use tobacco each day. As the use of all forms of tobacco has increased, so has tobacco-related disease and premature death. Tobacco is the cause of 14.3% of male deaths and 4.7% of female deaths in India, killing over 981,100 Indian citizens every year. The government of India acknowledges that tobacco-related disease costs the Indian economy over 1.4 trillion rupees every year – just among adults aged between 35 and 69.  The total cost across all age groups – including illness caused by tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke among children and the elderly – would be higher.
 
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of mortality in the world today, and is responsible for more than five million deaths each year—one in ten preventable deaths worldwide.   The implementation of graphic pack warnings is one of the World Health Organization’s M-P-O-W-E-R (W=Warn) strategies to reduce tobacco consumption. MPOWER strategies are endorsed and promoted by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, of which World Lung Foundation is a principal partner.