I am a smoker. I smoke cigarettes.  I am aware that cigarettes carry many health risks.  But, it’s my choice.     I vote and like many other citizens of this country, I do take active interest in the affairs of my country. In short, in addition to being a smoker, I’m no less a citizen of India than anybody else.  I ought not to be discriminated against for choosing to smoke, which is a legal act. The context for such a prologue is the new pictorial health warnings which tobacco product packs have to carry from 1st April 2015.   The pictorial warnings will now cover 85% of the face and back of the package.  Not only has the size of the warnings been increased by 300%, the pictures are quite gruesome. 

Now whenever one opens the pack or looks at it, one of these gruesome and disturbing pictures will stare at their face. The Government’s logic is that they are educating us but I feel that the existing pictorial health warnings are more than enough to educate consumers; it enables them to make an informed decision whether or not to smoke.  Also, one is not sure about the correctness of the claim in the warnings. Now, everyone who smokes does not end up with throat cancer. There are millions of people who are still alive, kicking and having their puff. The gory pictures are designed to traumatize a smoker and make him feel guilty about smoking which is not what the Government should be doing. These pictures will only make me conscious of my surroundings whenever I bring out the pack in the public simply because people will pass comments and judgments on my decision to smoke. I will be seen to be doing something outrageous although I love taking that drag!! It’s like wearing a T-shirt which says “Stay away I’m disgusting….and so are my habits”.

It is not my argument that the Government should not take any initiative to improve the health of its citizens, but any measure must be tempered with reason and common sense. The warning of Loius Brandeis should never be far from our conscious mind: “The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding”.         

If you agree with me, support this petition by providing your confirmation. I intend to send this petition along with the confirmation received to the Hon’ble Health Minister of the Government of India