Saturday April 15, 2006
Soon, graphic warning labels for cigarette packets
PENANG: Cigarette packets may look like miniature Tak Nak (Say “No”) posters once the Tobacco Control Bill is passed.
Health Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon said graphic deterrents on cigarette packets were necessary as the Merokok Membahayakan Kesihatan (Smoking Endangers Health) warning introduced in 1977 on packets had proved ineffective.
“Six prototypes of the most-effective graphic warning labels will be submitted with the draft of the Bill,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters yesterday after launching Universiti Sains Malaysia's Innovative Design for Health exhibition at the USM ABN-AMRO Arts and Cultural Centre.
Lee said warning labels with photos or graphics on cigarette packets were compulsory under the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, ratified by Malaysia in September.
“More than 10 countries in the world, including Thailand and Singapore, have made graphic warning labels compulsory,” he said.
He said placing a total ban on cigarette sales was difficult, and the only country in the world that had done that was Bhutan, which had a low ratio of smokers.
Graphic warning labels would also counter the current trend among tobacco firms to sell limited-edition cigarettes in attractive packaging, he said.
USM deputy vice-chancellor (research and innovation) Datuk Prof Muhammad Idiris Saleh said the university was studying how effective cigarette packet designs were in affecting a smoker's emotions under a grant from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in the United States.
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