Warnings too scary for their own good

Taiwan is to introduce less scary graphic images on cigarette pack warnings in the hope of getting smokers at least to look at them, according to a report on Focus Taiwan News Channel.

The country’s Health Promotion Administration (HPA), part of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, is hoping the new warnings, which are due to be introduced on June 1, will be more effective than the current pictures of diseased human organs.

The director of the HPA, Feng Tzung-yi, said the change was being made in the light of evidence that smokers tended not to look at the current warnings because they were too scary.

Currently, cigarette packets in Taiwan carry one of six images of diseased organs, including cancerous lungs and mouths.

The eight new warning images were less direct and included three that were used in the EU, one of them showing a shriveled apple that symbolized the adverse effects of smoking on human skin, said Feng.