INDIA TO ESTABLISH TOBACCO PRODUCT TESTING LAB

Source from:  Bernama - Wednesday, September 10NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (Bernama) 09/11/2008

The Indian health authorities are planning to set up a tobacco products testing validation laboratory, the first in Southeast Asia, to monitor tobacco contents. Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss said the Indian government was expected to spend RM10 million for the centre, backed by World Health Organisation (WHO) and Communicable Diseases Centre (CDC) in Atlanta. The lab technicians and experts would be trained in CDC, Atlanta and it is expected to function within a year in Delhi. At present, such validation centres are only functioning in Canada and Europe. Reiterating India's commitment towards tobacco control measures, Dr Ramadoss said his ministry would continue its anti-tobacco drive by banning smoking in public places, inserting pictorial warning on tobacco products, establishing more tobacco cessation clinics and implementing school health programmes. -- MORE TOBACCO-LAB 2 (LAST) NEW DELHI The authorities planned to increase the number of tobacco cessation clinics from the current 18 to 1,000 by 2010, with each manned by a clinical psychologist and a counsellor, to help smokers quit their habit, he said. "For this purpose, 100 clinics will be established in various parts of the country for a start. They will be in medical colleges and district hospitals," he added. There are an estimated 100 million smokers in India and 13 per cent of children in the 13-16 years age group consume tobacco, a worrying social trend in the country. Enditem