Press Release
October 25, 2007

Pia wants pictograms on cigarette packs to discourage smoking

Senate Health and Demography Committee Chairperson Senator Pia S. Cayetano wants cigarette packs being marketed in the country to bear pictograms depicting the hazards of smoking as a more effective means of discouraging tobacco use among Filipinos.

She said neighboring countries like Singapore and Thailand require cigarette packs to bear pictorial health warnings covering at least 50 percent of the top front and back panels of the pack.

The pictograms depict graphic and disturbing images of the effects of tobacco use on the human body such as tracheotomy and rotting teeth, among others.

Cayetano noted that cigarette packs with pictograms are actually being printed by local cigarette companies but these are not sold locally since it is not required under RA 9211 or the "Tobacco Regulation Act."

These packs are instead exported and used in other Asian countries requiring such labels, including Thailand, she added.

Stricter labeling requirements will be one of the issues taken up in the second public hearing today on proposals to inquire into the status of implementation and amend the Tobacco Regulation Act.

The lady senator also wants to look into Section 29 of the law requiring that a representative from the tobacco industry should be a member of the Inter Agency Committee-Tobacco (IAC-Tobacco).

Anti-tobacco advocates have questioned the apparent conflict of interest in the inclusion of a tobacco industry representative in the inter-agency committee which has the exclusive power and function to administer and implement the provisions of RA 9211.

The hearing will also take up Senate Bill No. 1368 which seeks to strengthen the law's prohibition on smoking in enclosed spaces.

Under the bill, smoking will also be prohibited in private conveyances where children, pregnant women and senior citizens are present with corresponding penalties for offenders.

RA 9211 bans smoking in all schools, including outdoor premises and in all enclosed or confined public places and all public transportation.

It also restricts cigarette advertising and sets a deadline for commercial ads, billboards and outdoor signs, as well as the sponsorship of concerts and sports events by tobacco manufacturing companies.

Cayetano noted that the law apparently has failed to change Filipino attitudes toward smoking. According to a WHO survey, 99% of Filipino adult smokers cited tobacco advertisements as one of the factors that encouraged them to smoke.

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