Want China Times, 2014-04-03
Cartons of Mild Seven cigarettes at a duty free shop at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. (Photo/Chen Chi-chuan) |
Beginning
June 1, cigarette packets in Taiwan will carry new warnings in the hope that
they will be more effective than the current pictures of diseased human organs,
health authorities said on Tuesday.
The Health
Promotion Administration under the Ministry of Health and Welfare said the
change was made based on findings that smokers tend not to look at the current
warnings because they are too scary, said Feng Tzung-yi, director of the Health
Promotion Administration.
Currently,
cigarette packets in Taiwan carry one of six images of diseased organs,
including cancerous lungs and mouth.
The eight
new warning images are less direct and include three that are used in the
European Union, one of them showing a shriveled apple that symbolizes the
adverse effects of smoking on human skin, Feng said.
Another
image shows a child wearing a breathing mask, suggesting the risk of
second-hand smoke to children.
The
mandatory pictorial warning labels on cigarette packets in Taiwan were
implemented in 2009 in compliance with the World Health Organization's
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), Feng said.
It is hoped
the new warnings would be more effective in motivating smokers to quit, he
said.
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