New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay at this stage the new Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labeling) Second Amendment Rules, 2018 from September 1, which mandates more than 40 per cent display of warning in cigarette packets The Amendment Rules stipulate two images depicting the manifestation of cancer, as specified health warning, to appear on the package consecutively during the rotation period, with an interregnum period of 12 months.
It also stipulates the manufacturers to display on tobacco products photo of a person’s throat with a hole accompanied with the text — “Smoking causes throat cancer”. When senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi pleaded for stay of the notification, a three-judge bench asked the counsel, “People are suffering from oral cancer. What is wrong with the government’s move changing the photograph on tobacco products?”
