Drilon urges passage of bill on graphic-based warning on cigarette packets

AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – To reduce smoking incidence in the country, Senate President Franklin Drilon urged his colleagues on Tuesday to immediately pass a bill requiring tobacco companies to display graphic labels on their products depicting the health consequences of smoking.

Various bills, including Senate Bill No. 499, or the “Picture-Based Health Warning Act of 2013” authored by Drilon, were filed in the Senate in 2013 aimed at “increasing the awareness of the cigarette consumers on the harmful effects of smoking.”

“It has been proven that a graphic-based warning is more effective than a text-based warning,” he said in a statement.

“By strategically placing meaningful graphic images along with text warnings to cigarette cartons and other tobacco products, we hope to effectively deter smoking in the same way that other countries where this system have been set in place were able to reduce the incidence of smoking in their respective jurisdictions,” said Drilon.

Under the bill, tobacco products have to display picture-based health warnings with accompanying text warnings that will be printed on at least 60 percent of the principal display surfaces for any tobacco package.

Drilon said the proposed measure “is necessary in order to strengthen the government’s efforts to discourage smoking.”

“I therefore assure the respective committee that is hearing the proposed measure and the public of our support for the immediate passage of this bill in order to advance our effort to discourage the millions of youth from trying to smoke,” he stressed.

An anti-smoking advocate, Drilon was among those who actively pushed for the passage of the Sin Tax Reform Act in 2012.

But despite such advances, he reiterated the importance of the passage of his bill as he expressed alarm over the fact that the Philippines still registers as having one of the highest smoking incidences in the Western Pacific Region.

Drilon said the urgent approval of the bill “will be a welcome and effective step in making the public aware of the real effects of smoking to one’s health.

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