Cigarette packs to get overhaul

Cigarette packs to get overhaul

New images, design to discourage smoking

Ten new warning images on cigarette packages and plain packaging are part of a new regulation before the Public Health Ministry to discourage smoking, according to minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn.

Dr Piyasakol said the ministry is about to issue a notification on the criteria, methods and conditions related to tobacco packaging. A draft is being prepared which will be forwarded to him to sign. He said he is ready to sign it immediately.

The measures will be a boon for tobacco control, as the new warning images will be introduced and plain packaging must be used. Such measures, based on research, could help discourage smoking, Dr Piyasakol said.

Chief of the Bureau of Tobacco Control, Chayanan Sitthiboot, said his agency is speeding up the process of drafting the ministerial notification.

Of the 10 warning images, most of them are new, he said, adding some were drawn from the existing images, but were adjusted to make them more effective.

The images reportedly include danger to children, mouth cancer, heart attacks and strokes.

According to the new regulation, all cigarette packages must use these 10 warning images.

The regulation will be enforced within 270 days after it is published in the Royal Gazette, he said.

Ronnachai Kongsakon, director of the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre of Mahidol University, said he supports the use of plain packaging, which was approved by the National Committee for Control of Tobacco on Wednesday.

With the regulation, Thailand will become the first in Asia and the 11th country in the world to introduce such a legislation.

Plain packaging is in line with World Health Organisation (WHO)'s convention in relation to tobacco control. The WHO encourages all member countries to follow through on the convention.

This new packaging will reduce the attraction of cigarette products and help ward off advertisements that could be put on packages, he said.

The plain packaging would prevent manufacturers from putting false messages and make the warning images more prominent.

Dr Ronnachai said his organisation has conducted a survey among 1,239 students in high schools and higher education institutions about plain cigarette packaging.

About 57% of the respondents said they do not want to buy cigarettes in plain packages while 47% of them said plain packaging made them realise the dangers of cigarettes more as compared to normal packaging.

According to Dr Ronnachai, non-smokers tend to respond well to warning images on plain packaging.

The number of those who are unwilling to smoke jumped about 13 times after seeing such packages.

Meanwhile, the number of the smokers who said they would no longer want to smoke jumped about 3 times.

The study, he said, has fuelled confidence that plain packaging, along with other measures such as a ban on the sales of cigarettes to people aged below 20 would help reduce the number of young smokers.

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