New warning labels for cigarette packs in Taiwan

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.