title: Communicating tobacco health risks: How effective are the warning labels on tobacco products?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health hazards of tobacco are well known but only small numbers of tobacco users are fully aware of the harmful effects of tobacco. Warning labels on tobacco products are an effective way of communicating the consequences of tobacco use and bring about behavioural changes like quitting and reducing the tobacco consumption. So the present study was conducted to investigate the awareness and effectiveness of warning labels on tobacco products among health and non-healthcare professional of Barwala, Panchkula.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive cross-sectional survey was carried out among 408 subjects who were randomly selected from different professional colleges of Barwala, Panchkula. Data obtained were anlysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test using SPSS 20.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most of study participants has noticed the warnings on tobacco products and most of them believe that they could understand warning labels. More that 70% believe that warnings create awareness about health hazards of tobacco and help in reducing or quitting tobacco. Pictorial warning was found to be better as compared to text warning. Health professionals were able to assess pictorial warnings more correctly as compared to non-healthcare professionals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Warning labels on tobacco packs effectively inform people about adverse health effects of tobacco but the mandated warnings do not serve the desired purpose since they are not properly understood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Swami Devi Dyal Hospital and Dental College, Barwala, Panchkula, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Amandeep
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chopra
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Swami Devi Dyal Hospital and Dental College, Barwala, Panchkula, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Nanak Chand
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Swami Devi Dyal Hospital and Dental College, Barwala, Panchkula, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Nidhi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Swami Devi Dyal Hospital and Dental College, Barwala, Panchkula, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Shelja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vashisth
keywords: Awareness; effectiveness; tobacco; warning labels