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Cigarette packs to depict graphic anti-smoking messages
Outer covers of cigarette packs sold in Sri Lanka will have to contain graphic, pictorial anti-smoking messages, under new labelling and packaging regulations for tobacco products, to be introduced shortly.
One of the images that will appear on the packets
“Eight versions of the pictures depicting illnesses caused by smoking, such as cancer, myocardial infarction, stroke etc., have been finalised by the National Alcohol and Tobacco Authority,” its Chairman- Professor Carlo Fonseka said.
“After the relevant regulations are gazetted shortly, cigarette packs will have to carry the eight approved pictorial health warnings on a rotation basis on their covers,” he said.
The new cigarette pack covers were finalised by NATA in keeping with the guidelines of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) adopted in 2003. Sri Lanka signed and ratified the Convention the same year and the Convention entered into force in 2005.
Coordinator of the NATA-Boomerang project which deals with tobacco control activities in Sri Lanka, Dr Prasanna Cooray said there is a definite downward trend, with a 10% drop in cigarette production by 2010 from 2006 levels (the year in which the NATA Act was enacted), even though in 2011, there was a slight increase from the 2010 level.
“Adult prevalence of cigarette use on a daily basis for Sri Lankan males is 18.6%, one of the lowest in the world,” he said. This year, NATA Chairman- Prof. Carlo Fonseka won the World No Tobacco Day Award for Sri Lanka’s success in tobacco control activities in the country, he added.
However, Dr Cooray said that, with regard to alcohol, the situation is different, with increases in production and consumption of both hard liquor and beer, especially since 2010.
The end of war and normalcy coming to the North and East is given as a reason for the increase in sales in those provinces, especially since 2010, which has started to add up to the national statistics. Rigorous clamping down on illicit liquor and improved purchasing power, with improvement in economy, are also cited as reasons for increase alcohol consumption, he added.
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