Question : EXPENDITURE ON TREATMENT OF TOBACCO RELATED DISEASES

(a) whether the Government has estimated the annual expenditure incurred on the treatment of diseases caused by the consumption of tobacco products in comparison to the earnings received from the tobacco products;

(b) if so, the details thereof indicating the funds earmarked and spent for the purpose during each of the last three years and the current year so far;

(c) whether as per a study published in Tobacco Control Journal the Government is more likely to save money on health care costs for treating tobacco related diseases by banning the production of tobacco products;

(d) if so, the details thereof alongwith the reaction of the Government thereto; and

(e) the steps taken by the Government to ensure the display of pictorial health warnings on tobacco products?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI GHULAM NABI AZAD)

(a) & (b) Government has not estimated the annual expenditure on the treatment of diseases by the consumption of tobacco products vis-a-vis earnings received from the tobacco products.

However, as per a study done in India in 1998-99 (extrapolated to 2002-03 rates), the health cost of treating only three tobacco related diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic lung diseases) was Rs. 30,000 crore, while the revenue generated from tobacco products through taxes was only Rs. 27,000 crore for the same year.

(c) &(d) The Ministry is not aware of any such study published in Tobacco Control Journal.

(e) The Government of India has issued a notification to authorise officers, who shall be competent to act under Section 12 and 13 of “The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, (COTPA), 2003” and conferred with the power of entry, Search and Seizure under the said provision of the Act. 

Moreover, all the State Governments and Central Board of Custom and Excise have been requested to ensure the effective implementation of the provision of Pictorial Health Warning Rules, 2008.