June is 'No smoking month'
Pia urges 'freedom' from smoking and second-hand smoke

Senator Pia S. Cayetano today urged Filipino smokers to join growing calls from health and environment advocates to quit the habit as the nation observes "no smoking month" this June.

"As I've been telling smokers, it is your choice to kill yourself by smoking, but don't kill people around you with your second-hand smoke," stressed Cayetano, Chairperson of the Senate Health and Demography Committee.

The lady senator is pushing two measures aimed at discouraging smoking among Filipinos.

These include the "Picture-Based Health Warning Law" (Senate Bill No. 2377) which requires all cigarette and tobacco product packages to bear a highly visible full-color photographic picture warning and an accompanying textual warning explaining the health hazards of smoking.

She said picture-based health warnings have proven more effective in discouraging smokers based on experiences of other countries that have enacted similar legislation. Gruesome pictures of throat cancer, lung cancer and other ill effects of smoking are among the graphic warnings being proposed to be printed on cigarette packs.

SB 2377 will also prohibit the use of descriptors, including terms, trademarks, or any sign or feature that creates or is likely to create the false impression that a product or brand is less harmful than the regular variety.

Cayetano is also pushing for Senate Bill No. 2378, which introduces amendments to RA 9211, the Tobacco Regulation Law.

The bill assigns the Department of Health (DOH), instead of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), as lead agency in the implementation of RA 9211. It also removes the Philippine Tobacco Institute, the organization representing tobacco companies, from being a member of the Inter-Agency Committee on Tobacco (IAC-T) due to conflict of interest.

"Despite legislation restricting smoking to those aged 18 and above, fifteen percent of Filipinos who smoke actually belong to the 13-15 age bracket. Studies also show children smokers start as early as seven years old. Clearly, government priority must be on efforts to disseminate information to dissuade Filipinos from smoking."