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Tag: health warnings

  • Taiwan Warnings to Cover Half of Pack

    Taiwan Warnings to Cover Half of Pack

    Photo: sharafmaksumov

    Beginning March 22, 2024, health warnings on cigarette packages in Taiwan must cover at least 50 percent of the packaging, up from 35 percent, according to the Taipei Times.

    The Health Promotion Administration cited the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 11, saying the article requires all contracting partier to ensure tobacco product packaging carries health warnings describing the harmful effects of tobacco use.

    According to a 2024 Canadian Cancer Society report, 127 countries and territories require warnings to cover 50 percent or more of the packaging.

    Those caught not following the health warning rule face fines of TWD10,000 ($319.23) to TWD50,000.

  • Kenya Relaxes Pouch Health Warnings

    Kenya Relaxes Pouch Health Warnings

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    The Kenyan government has relaxed nicotine pouch health warning requirements following BAT’s statement that it would pull investment from a new factory in the country’s capital, according to The Guardian.

    The government agreed to let BAT sell Velo nicotine pouches with significantly smaller health warnings and without mentioning the presence of potentially cancer-causing toxicants, according to letters between BAT and the Ministry of Health, which were obtained by Examination, an investigative news outlet. The ministry agreed to let BAT sell Velo with a small warning stating, “This product contains nicotine and is addictive.”

    Current regulations in the country state that labels must cover one-third of the package and include information about health hazards.

    Kenya is one of BAT’s key “test markets” in low-income and middle-income countries, according to company financial presentations. The company plans to make Kenya its base of operations for a rollout of Velo across southern and eastern Africa.

    In 2021, BAT requested its product be allowed to be sold with a warning label covering 10 percent of the packaging. In a letter, Crispin Achola, BAT Kenya’s managing director, told Mutahi Kagwe, the cabinet health secretary, “our resumption of factory operations and the sale of Lyft [Velo’s previous name] in Kenya hinges on the provision of appropriate text health warnings.”

    “Your positive consideration of this request will allow us to operationalize our factory,” the letter said.

    In response, the Ministry of Health agreed to allow a warning label covering 15 percent of the front of the package.

    Velo is the only nicotine pouch legally available in Kenya, though other brands are smuggled in illegally.

  • Stick Warnings Take Effect in Canada

    Stick Warnings Take Effect in Canada

    Image: Health Canada

    A new rule requiring warning labels on individual cigarettes in Canada takes effect today, reports The Canadian Press.

    The move, announced earlier this year, makes Canada the first country to take that step to deter smoking.

    Under the new law, cigarette manufacturers will be required to print messages in English and French on the paper around the filter, warning smokers about the risk of damage to organs, impotence and leukemia, among other diseases.

    Manufacturers have until the end of July 2024 to ensure the warnings are on all king-size cigarettes sold, followed by regular-size cigarettes and little cigars with tipping paper and tubes by the end of April 2025.

    Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society, believes the labels will dissuade teens leaning toward taking up the habit and encourage nicotine-dependent adults to quit.

    Dozens of studies in Canada and elsewhere show the effectiveness of printing warnings on each cigarette, he noted.

    Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship are banned in Canada, with warnings on cigarette packs dating back to 1972.

    In 2001, Canada became the first country to require tobacco companies to print pictorial warnings on the outside of cigarette packages and include inserts with health-promoting messages.

    Federal rules ban packaging that includes brand colors or trademarks.

    The tobacco industry has warned against unintended consequences. The National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco, which is funded by Canada’s leading cigarette manufacturers, warned in June that cheaper, colorful black-market packs free of health warnings attract young smokers and funnel more money to organized crime.

    While acknowledging that big tax hikes or sales bans would indeed benefit the black market, Cunningham believes that gradual price boosts and more strident messaging can bring down smoking rates.

    “The only real reason that they can oppose something is because it’s going to have a reduction in sales— and that is exactly the point,” he said of the manufacturers.

  • Individual Stick Warnings Coming

    Individual Stick Warnings Coming

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Canada will soon require that health warnings be printed directly on individual cigarettes—becoming the first country in the world to take this approach, according to the Government of Canada.

    The new Tobacco Products Appearance, Packaging and Labeling Regulations will be part of the government of Canada’s continued efforts to help adults who smoke to quit, to protect youth and nontobacco users from nicotine addiction and to further reduce the appeal of tobacco. Labeling the tipping paper of individual cigarettes, little cigars, tubes and other tobacco products will make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings altogether. In addition, the regulations will support Canada’s Tobacco Strategy and its target of reaching less than 5 percent tobacco use by 2035, according to a government press release.

    These regulations will come into force on Aug. 1, 2023, and will be implemented through a phased approach that will see most measures on the Canadian market within the year. Retailers will carry tobacco product packages that feature the new health-related messages by the end of April 2024. King-size cigarettes will be the first to feature the individual health warnings and will be sold by retailers in Canada by the end of July 2024 followed by regular size cigarettes, little cigars with tipping paper, and tubes by the end of April 2025.

    Other measures include strengthening and updating health-related messages on tobacco product packages; extending the requirement for health-related messaging to all tobacco product packages; and implementing the periodic rotation of message.

    The new regulations will be published in the June 7, 2023, edition of the Canada Gazette—Part II. In the interim, copies of the full regulations are available upon request by contacting pregs@hc-sc.gc.ca.

  • Canada Wants Warnings on Individual Sticks

    Canada Wants Warnings on Individual Sticks

    Photo: vchalup

    The Canadian government wants to require cigarette manufacturers to print written health warnings on individual cigarettes, reports Reuters, citing Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett.

    If the plan moves forward, Canada would be the first country to implement such a rule. In 2001, Canada pioneered graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, an example that has since been followed by many other nations.

    Carolyn Bennett said the measure had become stale for the 13 percent of Canadians who smoke regularly.

    “Adding health warnings on individual tobacco products will help ensure that these essential messages reach people, including the youth, who often access cigarettes one at a time in social situations sidestepping the information printed on a package,” she was quoted as saying.

    A 75-day public consultation period will start on June 11, and this will inform the development of the proposed new regulations.

    Rothmans Benson & Hedges, the Canadian unit of Philip Morris International, said the proposals would not help cut the number of smokers.

    “We believe that better choices start with better information, and the millions of current adult smokers should be given access to the appropriate information about alternatives,” a spokesperson told Reuters.

    Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) welcomed the plan.

    “We are delighted to see proposed new graphic health warnings on all tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco” said Les Hagen, executive director of ASH Canada in a statement. “A picture is worth a thousand words and these pictures and messages will protect thousands of Canadians from tobacco dependence and disease. The new and improved warnings will replace the stale messages that have appeared on tobacco packages for over 10 years. The messages on cigarette sticks are a global precedent and will warn smokers about the grave risks of smoking with every puff. The visibility and intensity of these warnings will better reflect the enormous risks of smoking.”

    Tobacco use kills over 50,000 Canadians each year—more than all other drugs combined, according to ASH.