April 27, 2009
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, April 24 (UPI) — The Danish Health Ministry plans to add pictures of the effects of smoking to cigarette packs, including images of smoke-blackened lungs and bodies in morgues.
Health Minister Jakob Axel Neilsen told the Metro Xpress newspaper he expects the photographic warnings to be added as part of a national health plan based on prevention to be put into effect next fall…
Full Article: UPI.com (April 24, 2009)
April 22, 2009
MADRID (AFP) — Spain said Tuesday it plans to force tobacco companies to put gruesome images on cigarette packets to warn smokers of the health risks, a measure already introduced in some other European countries.
The images will have “strong visual impact,” but it is not yet known what they exactly they will be or when the measure will come into force, Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said on Spanish National Radio…
Full Article: AFP (April 21, 2009)
April 6, 2009
In November 2007, the Australian Department of Health and Ageing commissioned a research firm to undertake an evaluation of the pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packaging. The purpose of the evaluation was to provide information on the effectiveness of the graphic health warnings, their impact on smoking behaviour, attitudes, knowledge and intentions. The evaluation included a review of recent international literature, a nation-wide telephone survey, focus groups with consumers, interviews with key stakeholders in tobacco control and an analysis of 2005/2006 departmental survey data.
This evaluation shows that the graphic health warnings have achieved their intended purpose as outlined in the Trade Practices (Consumer Product Information Standards) (Tobacco) Regulations 2004. That is, they have increased consumer knowledge of the health effects relating to smoking, have encouraged the cessation of smoking and discouraged smoking uptake or relapse. The findings indicate the significance and importance of including pictures/graphic images on tobacco products in regard to the recall, impact and noticeability of the health warnings…
The Evaluation report can be found on this and supporting documents are available at: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-drugs-tobacco-warnings.htm or on this website under Australia.
April 6, 2009
Hamburg
The European Commission is planning a new study aimed at developing better graphic images to warn of the damaging effects of tobacco, in a bid to encourage more European Union countries to put the pictures on cigarette packets.
Haravgi-Nina Papadoulaki, spokeswoman for the EC’s commissioner for health and consumer protection, Philippe Brunet, said that, although the commission developed a library of pictorial health warnings in 2005, only three European Union member states have started putting the images on cigarette packets: the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Latvia…
Full Article: BMJ (April 1, 2009)