Political pressure thwarts anti-smoking move

By Kamil Zaheer

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Political pressure has blocked a plan to put graphic pictorial warnings on cigarette packets, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Friday, seen as key in reducing the nearly 1 million deaths a year due to tobacco use.

"There has been a lot of pressure from all parties," Ramadoss told reporters.

"The chief ministers have written, lot of ministers have come, MPs have given representations," Ramadoss said, after receiving an award from the World Health Organisation for his efforts to fight the widespread use of tobacco products in India.

Millions of Indians depend on the tobacco industry, and those involved in the sector have significant political clout in states such as West Bengal in the east and Andhra Pradesh in the south.

The Health Ministry had planned to start displaying pictures of a corpse and mouth cancers on cigarette packs from June.

The campaign included placing skull and crossbone images on all tobacco product packaging, as well as starker written warnings such as "Your smoking kills babies".

But opposition from politicians, including federal and state ministers, and some ruling Congress party MPs led a group of ministers dealing with the plan to delay and dilute its implementation.

"I am not going to backtrack, but the decision is now left to the group of ministers and I am just one of them," Ramadoss said, without giving a timetable for final approval of the campaign.