Thailand First Asian Nation to Join Global Efforts to Control Tobacco

Tobacco pickers carry leaves to one of the sheds where they are cured on the Rosario plantation in San Juan y Martínez, in Vuelta Abajo, a western Cuban region famous for producing premium cigars. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños/IPSBy Wendell C BalderasBANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 20 2018 (IPS)Thailand is set to become the first Asian country to introduce standardized packaging of tobacco. On 14 November 2018, the Thai National Committee on Tobacco Control approved the Ministry of Health Regulation that requires cigarettes in Thailand to be sold in packaging stripped of the fancy, colorful and unique cigarette branding. Instead, the packs will be in drab brown color, free of any logos or images with 85 percent pictorial health warnings on both sides. Tobacco brand names can only be printed in a standardized font type, size, color, and location. This regulation will be gazetted soon and implementation will be in 270 days.Standardized packaging is the global best practice in packaging tobacco products as recommended in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 11 (Packaging and labelling) and 13 (Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship) Guidelines and are designed to make smoking less appealing.With this move, Thailand continues to be a leader in tobacco control in Asia joining seven other countries worldwide already implementing standardized packaging.Standardized packaging’s promises to reduce the attractiveness of tobacco products, eliminate tobacco packaging as ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Development & Aid Economy & Trade Global Global Governance Headlines Health IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news