 Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Nearly one-third of the study participants had often noticed warnings on tobacco packs in the last month, had sometimes read or looked closely at the warnings on tobacco packs in the last month and had rarely talked with anyone about these warnings. About more than two-third of the study participants had found the warning related pictures as not easy to understand, not believable and that these images did not deter them from the likely use of tobacco, and it did not stop them from using tobacco.
Conclusion: We can infer that the textual and pictorial warnings failed to have desired deterrent impact on the adolescent who tend to initiate or continue the tobacco use despite the warning.
Keywords: Adolescents, perception, pictorial warnings, tobacco
|How to cite this article:|
Thakur A, Shivakumar K M, Patil S, Suresh K V, Kadashetti V. A study on adolescents to assess the impact of pictorial and textual warnings on panels of smoked and smokeless tobacco products in Western Maharashtra, India. J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent 2015;13:250-3
|How to cite this URL:|
Thakur A, Shivakumar K M, Patil S, Suresh K V, Kadashetti V. A study on adolescents to assess the impact of pictorial and textual warnings on panels of smoked and smokeless tobacco products in Western Maharashtra, India. J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent [serial online] 2015 [cited 2021 Sep 26];13:250-3. Available from: https://www.jiaphd.org/text.asp?2015/13/3/250/165243
| Introduction|| |
Tobacco in smoke and smokeless form is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide. With over 8 million deaths projected to be attributable to smoking by the year 2020, smoking has been described as a major public health scourge of modern times. 
Government of India has been taking initiative with regards to the ban of sale of tobacco products, placing pictorial warnings on the tobacco packets, advertising related to the vices of tobacco use and also has been contemplating about raising the taxes on tobacco products. These combined efforts have been instrumental in raising awareness among the masses regarding the ill effects of tobacco consumption and have been discouraging people from adopting this habit. 
The World Health Organization explains that consumers have "fundamental right to accurate information" about the risks of smoking, with warnings on tobacco packaging as a simple means of communicating these risks.  More than 60 countries now require pictorial health warnings on packs and in five countries they cover 75% or more of the principal surfaces (Canada, Brunei, Uruguay, Sri Lanka, Australia). In India too, a mandate on the display of such warnings has been implemented. Three different pictorial and many textual warnings on rotation basis are used. These warnings usually state "smoking is injurious to health" and "chewing tobacco causes oral cancer" in local languages to make it more effective. 
According to the United Nations (UNICEF 2011), adolescent are the people in the age group of 11-19 years.  As we know it is the age of experimentation which often is instrumental in the initiation of tobacco related habits. The individuals in this age group are very much inquisitive and want to try different things so the chances of being a tobacco addict are very high among them. According to the global youth and adult tobacco survey it has been found that initiation of tobacco habits starts at an average age 17.9 years in males and 21.0 years in females. 
Government of India as a part of its campaign against tobacco use has mandated the presence of pictorial warning on the packs of tobacco: Smoked and smokeless. These warnings are depicted with a hope that they will deter the individuals from using tobacco and inform them regarding the risks of tobacco. Yet there is lack of information regarding the comprehension of these signs by the adolescents. Such information will give an insight into the thinking process of the adolescents regarding these warnings. This is the first study of its kind in Western Maharashtra exploring th