State forms panel to enforce tobacco Act

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 18

To ensure forceful implementation of the Tobacco Control Act, the state government has become the first state to have constituted an empowered committee to deal with the tobacco industry’s interference in public health policies.

The committee, headed by Principal Secretary, Health, Vini Mahajan, would also have Principal Secretary, Home, Financial Commissioner, Taxation, Secretary Health-cum-Commissioner FDA, as its designated special officers.

Mahajan said the high-powered committee would mainly focus on the implementation of Section 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which states that “in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, the parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law”.