WHO pressures China on warnings

The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging China to make its tobacco products warnings more graphic, according to a Xinhua News Agency story.

The WHO believes that China’s text warnings, including “Smoking is hazardous to your health,” no longer deter people from smoking.

A report by the WHO and the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project says that China can bring down smoking prevalence by including large-format graphic warnings on packaging.

Dr. Bernhard Schwartlander, the WHO’s representative in China, was quoted as saying that smokers had a better chance of noticing graphic health warnings.

Meanwhile, Liang Xiaofeng, vice director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that smoking-related diseases severely threatened public health, and that graphic warnings might be the most direct and effective way to curb smoking.

The WHO frequently tries to put pressure on China and is currently telling it also how it should tighten its tobacco advertising regulations still further.