Cigarette packets to mention amounts of nicotine and tar
Cigarette packets to mention amounts of nicotine and tar
Consumer strength is fast growing in India. Among the various initiates being taken for raising awareness, cigarette companies may now have to mention the nicotine and tar content on their packets. The government has approved a plan to set up six tobacco testing labs in India with the apex lab to be built in Noida. 
The labs were proposed to come up in Chandigarh, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Noida. "If the labs are set up - these would be the first in southeast Asia - neighbouring countries can also utilise them," sources said, adding Rs 57 crore has already been earmarked for the project.
The Central Tobacco Research Institute in Andhra Pradesh which tests tobacco content for the agriculture industry, recently found high levels of nicotine and tar in Indian cigarettes.
While the global cut-off mark for tar is 10 mg per cigarette, in India, it was found to be 13-14 mg in filter cigarettes and 15-18 mg in non-filter ones. As against the permissible cut-off mark of 1 mg of nicotine per cigarette, the content level in filter cigarettes was found to be 1.3-1.8 mg in filter cigarettes and 1.4-1.8 mg in non-filter cigarettes.u00a0
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Clean up ACT
The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Act makes it mandatory for all tobacco manufacturers to mention the percentage of nicotine and tar in their products.
Of the more than 4,000 chemicals that have been identified in tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be harmful, and 50 of these are known to cause cancer.
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