Tobacco Control in India

1. Tobacco Control in India Christopher Millett

2. 3 month sabbatical • Welcome Trust Capacity Building grant between Consortia of UK universities and Public Health Foundation for India (PHFI) • Based at the South Asia Network for Chronic Disease (July – Sep 2011) • ‘Centre of Excellence’ within PHFI

8. Outline of the talk • brief overview of the FCTC and tobacco control policy in India • limitations of surveillance data for monitoring policy impacts • tobacco industry influence (pack warnings and taxation)

9. Why tobacco control? Tobacco use a major risk factor for NCDs Explains 25-50% of the difference in premature mortality between SES groups (Marmot 1991, Jha 2006) One of the most cost-effective interventions to improve health (Azaria 2007)

10. Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) First global public health treaty Adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2003 Ratified by 174 countries Ratified by India in Feb 2004 (4th), UK in Dec 2004 , not by US Call to accelerate implementation of FCTC at UN High Level meeting on NCDs in September

11. Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003 Section 4: Smoke-free public places (October 2008) Section 5: Banning of advertising, sponsorship and promotion (May 2004) Section 6: Legal age of purchase = 18 years (February 2004) Sections 7-9: Pictorial pack warnings (March 2008)

12. Surveillance / monitoring tobacco use Beyond cigarettes: bidi, gutkha, khaini, paan masala, hookah, cigars, chillum, chutta, gul, mawa, misri

13. Routine surveillance and monitoring of tobacco use

14. Global Adult Tobacco Survey - 2009/10 • GATS India • > 76,000 HH interviews • > 69,000 individual interviews • 20 languages & dialects • Approximately 1000 fieldworkers trained • Approx. 180 fieldwork days • Use of HH devices

15. Global Adult Tobacco Survey- 2009-10

16. GATS India 2010 275 million tobacco users 197 million males, 78 million females 164 million use only smokeless tobacco 42 million use smoking and smokeless tobacco

18. Percentage of current tobacco users

19. Information to Action: key facts from GATS to inform policy • Smokeless tobacco most commonly used, but high dual use • Bidis more commonly smoked than cigarettes • Two-thirds of tobacco users initiate at 18 yrs+ • State level variation – rural / urban divide • Higher tobacco use among poor, low smoking among women • Quit rates are tiny (2%)

20. Tobacco industry influence • Pack warnings

21. FCTC Guidelines on Pack Warnings (Article 11)

22. Fancy a cigarette? Plain packaging – All eyes are on Australia

23. Proposed pictorial health warnings

24. Smoking Forms Smokeless Forms Actual pictorial warnings (March 2008) • Not market tested • Fall well short of FCTC guidance • Cover just 40% of the front panel of the pack

25. Taxing tobacco – recommended practice Tobacco use is price sensitive Tax should be progressively increased above RPI Tax should account for 75-80% of price Price should be consistent across products to reduce product substitution Need to be complemented with anti-smuggling efforts

26. UK tobacco taxation policy (March 2011 budget) • Price differential between tobacco products reduced • General 2% above RPI increase on tobacco • Additional 10% on hand rolled tobacco (£7.35 for 25 grams) • 33 pence increase on premium cigarettes (£6.95 pack) • 50 pence increase on economy cigarettes (£5.63 pack)

27. Cigarette Taxes in India, 2008-09 (Rs. Per 1000 Sticks)

28. Bidi Taxes in India, 2008-09 (Rs. Per 1000 Sticks)

29. Bidis – why so cheap? • Low grade tobacco – the good stuff is used for cigarettes • Low taxes – due to political influence. Inaction by the national govt has led NGOs to target state governments, with some success • Fragmented production and sale – difficult to levy taxes • Cheap labour – exploitation of rural women and children

30. The Bidi King • Today bidi is king in India because the country’s bidi king is Praful Patel. • His family runs the $5 billion CeeJay Group, the largest bidi maker in India’s western Maharashtra state. • www.iwatchnews.org

31. And the have nots....!

32. SES patterning of tobacco use • Question: is the relationship between SES and tobacco use consistent across Indian states? • Data: Annual National Sample Survey (2009/10), includes HH level data on tobacco expenditure by type • Sample size: 100,855 households • Outcomes: use and volume of cigarettes, bidis, smokeless tobacco • Predictors: HH level income, education

33. State level analysis of SES and tobacco use Red font: higher education / income = higher use / volume Black font: lower education / income = higher use / volume

34. Summary • India has led the way legislating for tobacco control • It has struggled with implementation • This is due in part to lack of enforcement capacity and complexity of the tobacco market • But also due to tactics of tobacco industry

35. Ongoing India work • Tobacco Control • Trends in tobacco use, including state level analyses • SHS exposure (cotinine) in rural Andhra Pradesh • Documenting smoking in Bollywood movies • - Modelling TC policy impacts on CVD outcomes • Active transport • Impact of rural-urban migration on physical activity and CVD risk factors (India Migration Study) • Salt reduction • - RCT examining the impact of a village level intervention on salt intake

36. Acknowledgments Leverhulme Trust (Study Abroad Fellowship) South Asia Network for Chronic Disease - Public Health Foundation for India PCPH