Jaipur: A division bench of the Rajasthan high court Thursday issued notices to the Union health ministry, Rajasthan govt, the state’s social justice ministry, excise department and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) over the alleged absence of clear and pictorial statutory cancer warnings on liquor bottles sold in the state. The court has granted four weeks to the respondents to file their replies. The notices were issued by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Sangeeta Sharma during a preliminary hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL). Petitioner’s counsel Geetesh Joshi told the court that Section 16(5) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, provides for statutory warnings on labels of alcoholic beverages, to be printed in English. He also cited findings by a group of three oncologists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), published in a magazine article, recommending cancer warning labels on alcoholic beverages in view of evidence linking alcohol consumption to multiple forms of cancer. Joshi argued that liquor bottles currently do not carry clear and effective warnings, and said that since many consumers are poorly educated, warnings should be illustrated and printed in the local language to ensure awareness of serious health risks, including cancer.
