The national Health Department is studying samples of graphic tobacco-use warnings from a number of countries, including Brazil and Thailand, which are expected to appear on cigarette packs here, but no date has been set.
South Africa's diverse cultures and religions needed to considered carefully first, said departmental spokesperson Fidel Hadebe.
While the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill was signed into law recently, there was still a need to ensure that these images were not "culturally or religiously insensitive" to South African consumers, Hadebe said. There have been high hopes that the new law would take effect on Sunday, World No Tobacco Day.
Continues Below ↓
"We don't just want to put out these graphics without engaging with relevant stakeholders first," said Hadebe. "There is a long process to follow before we can decide, taking into account our diverse cultures and religion."
He added that they believed some of the samples provided might be too distasteful for most South Africans.
This was because the warnings tied smoking to, among other things, penile and cervical cancer.
The new law makes a number of changes to the Tobacco Products Control Act of 1993, including the use of pictures showing the consequences such as rotting teeth. It also allows for tighter restrictions preventing advertising and promotion of to-bacco products to young people and bars young people from going to social clubs where the tobacco industry targets them.
The new legislation will also increase fines for people who smoke in public places, and bans smoking in cars when a child younger than 12 is a passenger.
According to the World Health Organisation, about 5.4 million people died of smoking-related illnesses in 2004. This figure, they predict, will jump to eight million by 2030.
The Cancer Association of SA (Cansa) predicted that the use of health graphics would go a long way to raising awareness in South Africa.
Cansa spokesperson Lucy Balona said tobacco companies spent tens of millions of dollars every year turning new users into addicts, and keeping current users from quitting.
"Through advertising... the tobacco industry continues to divert attention from the deadly effects of its products," said Balona.
Effective warnings, especially those with pictures, had been proven to motivate smokers to quit and discouraged non-smokers from starting.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Argus on May 25, 2009
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
