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”
source: https://www.change.org/p/minister-for-health-and-family-welfare-government-of-india-remove-exaggerated-graphic-warnings
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EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS (ECtHR) must rule against these discriminating and social marginalization acts and Nazi practices from the EU altogether against people who smoke, protecting the right of and freedom of choice and not degrading furthermore their quality of life with these pictures. These acts and way of false thinking must be abandoned because the clearly violate the prime directives and law establishment of the Human rights such as founded and declared during the course of human history and civilization and is a step back to totalitarianism.
If the EU truly is concerned about public health they should stop being hypocrites and better educate at school warning the kids about the dangers stop the media and movies using promoting smoking and forbidding they sale for ages under 21.
Therefore, Remove exaggerated pictorial graphic warnings altogether from tobacco packs. Text message warnings are more than adequate. Withdraw the discriminating European Commission Directive 2012/9/EU.
