India may money by ramping up bcg production and using same to treat autoimmune diseases.
See eg Faustman dl, pubmed.org Faustman dl, pubmed.org ristori+bcg, uptown.gov inventor search Faustman, patents assigned to mass general
It problematic that tobacco kills injures many too slowly,
The health ministry can do more good by treating those who are sick with bcg so they may lead a better life!
NEW DELHI—Tobacco companies in India halted cigarette production amid government regulations requiring larger and more graphic health warnings on packages.
The decision represents a sharp escalation in the conflict between the industry and Indian authorities over rules that require 85% of a pack to be covered with pictorial public-health messages that show diseased lungs and other problems caused by smoking.
ITC Ltd., VST Industries Ltd. and Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. said they paused manufacturing on April 1 due to confusion over the new requirements. British American Tobacco PLC owns roughly a third of ITC and VST, while Philip Morris International Inc. owns a quarter of Godfrey Phillips India.
Antismoking activists said the move was an attempt to put pressure on regulators by raising the economic stakes. The companies employ thousands of workers and buy tobacco from millions of farmers. Cigarette sales also are an important source of tax revenue. It is unclear if the halt led to worker furloughs.
A Health Ministry spokeswoman said changes to the new regulations weren’t being considered.
“The rule is very clear,” said a senior Health Ministry official, who declined to be named. “If they don’t want to produce, let them not produce.”
MORE ON TOBACCO
- Philip Morris Loses Latest Case Against Australia Cigarette-Pack Laws(Dec. 18, 2015)
- Big Tobacco Challenges U.K.’s Plain-Packaging Laws in High Court (Dec. 10, 2015)
- Indonesia Tells Cigarette Makers to Put Warnings on Products (June 24, 2014)
Governments world-wide have ordered changes to cigarette packaging in an effort to discourage smoking. These range from mandating grisly images on warning labels to barring manufacturers from using their own logos.
The tobacco industry has fought back fiercely. Philip Morris mounted a costly, yearslong—and ultimately unsuccessful—legal battle against Australia’s so-called plain-packaging rule, which prohibits the use of brand imagery, colors and logos.
In India, where tobacco-related illnesses kill nearly a million people a year, the government first ordered pictorial warnings in 2009. The warnings had to cover 40% of the front of a cigarette pack.
In late 2014, the Health Ministry changed the rules to require tobacco makers to cover 85% of their packs—front and back—with such warnings. The government delayed the implementation of the new rules until April 1 of this year, pending a parliamentary study.
‘Warnings have the potential of severely affecting the Indian farmers and Indian companies...’
The tobacco industry took the government to court, filing at least half a dozen lawsuits challenging the rules. The industry argued that the enhanced warnings would destroy the livelihoods of people connected to tobacco sales and would encourage smuggling.
The Karnataka High Court, where the suits were filed, said this year it didn’t have the power to strike down the health regulations or impose a stay. The cases are pending.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary committee that studied the new rules issued nonbinding recommendations last month urging the government to reduce the size of warning labels to 50% from 85%. One of the members of the committee was a lawmaker who owns a tobacco company.
“The proposed graphic health warnings have the potential of severely affecting the Indian farmers and Indian companies with gains to the unscrupulous elements who manufacture and sell illicit tobacco products,” according to the report, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. It concluded the new rules “will be too harsh.”
‘It’s commendable how India has stood firm.’
Committee chairman Dilipkumar Mansukhlal Gandhi defended the report as “fair and unbiased.”
The Health Ministry reviewed the committee’s findings but decided to stick with the significantly larger warning labels, the senior official there said.
Government officials say they would have notified the companies if their stance had changed.
“It’s commendable how India has stood firm,” said New Delhi-based tobacco-control activist Bhavna Mukhopadhyay, who was a member of a panel the government consulted before drafting the new rules.
The production halt hasn’t resulted in any shortages. All three firms say they have adequate stockpiles for now but declined to elaborate.
ITC and VST both said production would cease until there was greater certainty in how to proceed. Godfrey Phillips said “preparatory work for implementation of new graphical health warnings is currently in progress.” It wouldn’t say when it planned to resume output.
In comments earlier submitted to the parliamentary committee, Godfrey Phillips had said the new health warnings were too disturbing.
“The purpose of a warning is to caution or warn but not to shock the consumer,” the company said. “The proposed warnings are gruesome, highly excessive and virtually amount to terrorizing a consumer.”
Ind
Write to Preetika Rana at preetika.rana@wsj.com
