Push is on for graphic cigarette pack labels
Source: Xinhua |
March 14, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ANTI-SMOKING advocates want to replace the appealing designs of Chinese cigarette packs with images of diseased human organs in a bid to persuade the country's estimated 300 million smokers to drop the habit.
Anti-smoking lawmakers and advisers are renewing their fight to put graphic health warnings on cigarette packs. Similar labels in other countries typically picture gangrenous toes, diseased lungs and damaged hearts, an abrupt contrast to the beautiful mountains, rivers and historical sites often pictured on cigarette packs in China.
"People have the right to accurate information about the harm of smoking through health warning labels on tobacco products," said Ma Li, a national lawmaker.
In China, only 23.2 percent of adults believe that tobacco can cause strokes, heart attack and lung cancer, Ma said.
A July 2011 report from the World Health Organization stated that graphic health warning labels featured in tobacco packaging and mass media campaigns have been shown to reduce tobacco use.
"Packaging labels are the easiest, most effective and most direct way to warn about smoking. Large graphic images are very effective at keeping would-be smokers at bay, especially young people," said Ma.
About 110 billion packs of cigarettes were sold in China in 2011.
"If graphic warning labels are printed on cigarette packs, it's as effective as printing 110 billion health pamphlets every year," said Shen Jinjin, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Yancheng in east China's Jiangsu Province.
China signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003 and pledged to fulfill its obligations before January 9, 2011. Article 11 of the convention requires health warning labels on tobacco packaging to be approved by a "competent national authority."
It also specifies that the labels should cover no less than 30 percent of the face of the cigarette packaging and be "large, clear, visible and legible."
However, cigarettes sold on the Chinese mainland still lack pictures and specific warnings, let alone graphic pictures.
"The only improvement in China's commitment to the WHO convention on packaging are the ambiguous warnings 'smoking is harmful to your health' and 'quitting smoking reduces health risks' that have been printed on the front of cigarette packs since October 2008," said Wu Yiqun, executive vice director of the ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development.
Anti-smoking lawmakers and advisers are renewing their fight to put graphic health warnings on cigarette packs. Similar labels in other countries typically picture gangrenous toes, diseased lungs and damaged hearts, an abrupt contrast to the beautiful mountains, rivers and historical sites often pictured on cigarette packs in China.
"People have the right to accurate information about the harm of smoking through health warning labels on tobacco products," said Ma Li, a national lawmaker.
In China, only 23.2 percent of adults believe that tobacco can cause strokes, heart attack and lung cancer, Ma said.
A July 2011 report from the World Health Organization stated that graphic health warning labels featured in tobacco packaging and mass media campaigns have been shown to reduce tobacco use.
"Packaging labels are the easiest, most effective and most direct way to warn about smoking. Large graphic images are very effective at keeping would-be smokers at bay, especially young people," said Ma.
About 110 billion packs of cigarettes were sold in China in 2011.
"If graphic warning labels are printed on cigarette packs, it's as effective as printing 110 billion health pamphlets every year," said Shen Jinjin, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Yancheng in east China's Jiangsu Province.
China signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003 and pledged to fulfill its obligations before January 9, 2011. Article 11 of the convention requires health warning labels on tobacco packaging to be approved by a "competent national authority."
It also specifies that the labels should cover no less than 30 percent of the face of the cigarette packaging and be "large, clear, visible and legible."
However, cigarettes sold on the Chinese mainland still lack pictures and specific warnings, let alone graphic pictures.
"The only improvement in China's commitment to the WHO convention on packaging are the ambiguous warnings 'smoking is harmful to your health' and 'quitting smoking reduces health risks' that have been printed on the front of cigarette packs since October 2008," said Wu Yiqun, executive vice director of the ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development.
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