Global Smokeless Tobacco Market is Facing New Indian Proposals to Highlight Dangers of Tobacco Use

Source from:  Companiesandmarkets.com 04/16/2015

Although the global smokeless tobacco market has seen a great number of innovative developments in recent years, such as E-cigarettes, it faces a major challenge over new proposals by the Indian health ministry. Health ministers want to make learning about tobacco's dangers and the problems it can cause compulsory for students at school across India. Students aged from 12 to 15 years old will be made to read about tobacco as part of the national school curriculum, in order to lower the number of young people buying tobacco.

"The ministry is determined to take stringent measures to discourage use of tobacco. We want to take a 360 degree approach. Smoking as well as chewing tobacco are two major concerns and there is a need to catch them young and tell them about the adverse affects," according to an Indian health ministry official. "The health message should reach potential tobacco-users before they become addicted, so it is important to ensure children know the risks before they start".

Official figures show that 40% of India's estimated 275mn tobacco users are younger than 15 years old. However, anti-tobacco activists dispute this figure, saying that the amount of younger smokers is underreported and close to one in three tobacco consumers are children. Adverts promoting tobacco and selling to underage children are already outlawed in India, but smokeless tobacco products, such as gutka an chewable tobacco, remain highly popular.Global smokeless tobacco market

A 2014 Canadian Cancer Society report listed India as 136th out of 198 countries for the size of tobacco warnings, with only 20% of the packet showning health warnings, which is far lower than other Asian countries. Tobacco packs in Thailand see 85% of the packet covered in warnings, 75% in Nepal and 90% in Sri Lanka. The main reason for health ministers wanting children to learn about the effects of tobacco is to lower the around 1mn people per year that die from tobacco related illnesses.

The global smokeless tobacco market is driven by falling cigarette consumption and the rising amount of disposable income around the world. However, the market faces a number of high-profile issues, such as new laws and policies that are considered anti tobacco, as well as increasing health concerns around smokeless tobacco products.

The most popular product segments in the global smokeless tobacco market are snuff, dissolvable tobacco, snus and chewing tobacco, with other products being of a very small size. Enditem