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Time for the Real Picture on Tobacco, Says WHO
DUBAI - The World Health Organisation wants GCC countries to speed up implementation of pictorial warnings on tobacco products, including shisha.
As WHO marks World No Tobacco Day today, the organisation’s eastern Mediterranean regional office urged all signatories of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, including the UAE, to display large, graphic health warnings on at least 50 per cent of the principal display area of packaging.
“Today we call upon all parties to adopt pictorial health warnings, not only for cigarettes but for all tobacco products, including shisha,” said WHO regional director Dr Hussein Gezairy .
The signatories recently adopted guidelines for packaging and labelling under the framework. This makes them legally bound to implement its measures, including pictorial health warnings within a given time frame.
According to an earlier Ministry of Health decision, the warnings were scheduled to be in place in February this year.
“The pictures have already been approved and currently all tobacco products are being standardised for the local market,” said Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, head of the UAE National Committee for Tobacco Control at the ministry. She added that the warnings should be in place very soon.
“Health warnings on packets of cigarettes are a powerful and inexpensive way to show the harmful effects of tobacco use,” said Dr Gezairy. Health warnings that include images of the harmful effects of tobacco can be very powerful in de-motivating smokers, he added.
“The tobacco industry is facing ban on tobacco promotion and they are using tobacco packaging to attract new smokers, particularly youth and women,” he said adding, “We should take all necessary action to stop that.”
This year, WHO is marking World No Tobacco Day with the theme ‘pictorial health warnings’
“Pictures convey a clear and instant message, even to those who cannot read. Although people agree that tobacco use is harmful, they are often unaware of how tobacco actually harms them,” said Dr Gezairy.
He explained that pictorial warnings also reduce the appeal of tobacco packaging. “Tobacco companies spend millions of dollars to make tobacco products attractive to the public. They use packaging as an important tool to appeal to, and attract, new customers, while distracting consumers from the harsh reality of how tobacco destroys health,” he added.
A total of 23 countries in the world now include pictorial health warnings, with messages reaching more than 700 million people.
In the eastern Mediterranean region, pictorial warnings are found in Egypt, Jordan, Iran and Djibouti.
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