-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Even as the government is still deliberating on larger pictorial warnings on packs of tobacco products, 40% of Indian adults are exposed to second hand tobacco smoke at home. These are people who do not smoke themselves but are vulnerable to various diseases because someone smokes at home, showed a latest assessment by the World Health Organization, highlighting risks of second hand smoking and the need...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Certain medicines are being aggressively marketed in India despite inadequate evidence of safety and efficacy, putting patients at risk, said reputed medical journal Lancet. Highlighting weak regulation and monitoring of the domestic drug industry, three recently-introduced medicines are being prescribed and sold though there is a lack of rigorous trials on crucial safety and efficacy parameters. The pharmaceutical industry in India should face the same stringent regulations...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has made public the National Health Policy 2015 Draft for discussion. The draft is more exhaustive and better organised in its coverage compared to the National Health Policy of 2002. It touches upon contemporary issues of concern, including the rapid emergence of chronic non-communicable diseases. From the latest available evidence, issues crucial to tackling chronic illness in India are discussed. Subrata...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's food safety regulator has slashed the maximum allowed limit of transfats in cooking oil and fat by half to five per cent in a move that experts are calling an important step to safeguard public health. But nutrition scientists have cautioned that the government will also need to tweak oilseed crop policies to draw the food processing industry and consumers away from unhealthy but inexpensive transfats to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A government task force has recommended changes in the existing drug price regulation which could result in a spike in prices of essential medicines. These include suggestions to pull several medicines out of price control, which is likely to impact drugs used in treatment of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases as well as antibiotics. "There is a need to review the implementation of DPCO (Drugs Price...