Antitobacco Activists Urge Graphic Cigarette Warnings

Antitobacco activists have urged the government to put pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs to discourage smokers and deter children.

“There has been a health warning on cigarette packaging, but it’s in the written form, small and thus ineffective,” Husna Zahir, from the Indonesian Consumer Foundation, said at a discussion held by the Tobacco Control Support Center.

“The existing warning on the packaging is not able to fight aggressive advertising and sponsorship by cigarette producers, particularly toward young people.”

Indonesia is one of the last countries in Asia that still allows tobacco product advertising on television and in sponsorship of major concerts and events.

The South East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance last month said that studies showed prominent, graphic warnings on cigarette packs were very effective in educating people about the dangers of smoking.

In Thailand, nearly 50 percent of smokers said that the warning labels made them more likely to quit, and more than 50 percent said it made them think about the health risks. 

Hera Diani

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