| Summary: | Introduction
Smokeless tobacco (SLT) companies produce
different SLT brands and types that are used extensively
throughout India.
Methods
Within this cross-sectional pack-collection study,
available information on details, composition, and profiles of
various SLT products and the pictorial warning labels were
collected from available retail paan shops in Ananthapur
town, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Results
SLT products are defined by specified names
according to regional levels and the products of SLT have
their own product constituents. The smokeless tobacco
products like madhu chhap, hans chhap, and miraj were
identified. The gutkha brands are in the form of khaleja and
rebel, and are available in the Indian tobacco market. The
brands of vimal, hira, rajnigandha, and RMD are panmasala
products in the Ananthapur region. The health warning
labels are present on the packets of most of the SLT products
in the form of ‘Tobacco kills/Tobacco causes mouth cancer/
Chewing of tobacco is injurious to health/Chewing of
panmasala may be injurious to health’.
Conclusions
This limited pack-collection study identified
a plethora of SLT products on the Indian market with an
array of ingredients and warning labels – including graphic
warning labels. These findings suggest that the monitoring
of pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packaging as
prevention efforts/measures is warranted.
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