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Smoking Kills
Push to have graphic images depicting dangers of smoking
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
THE Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control is pushing to have graphic images highlighting the dangers of smoking, displayed on cigarette packages by next January as a way of deterring Jamaicans from lighting up.
Under the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control treaty of which Jamaica is a signatory, tobacco manufacturers will be expected to have the graphics displayed on 50 per cent of the package.
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| Dawn Williams (left) communications officer of the Caribbean Tobacco Control Project, which falls under the Heart Foundation of Jamaica/Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco; Deborah Chen, executive director and Barbara McGaw (right), project manager, address reporters and editors at an editorial meeting at the Observer's head office in Kingston yesterday. The trio spoke about a recently established project to have tobacco manufacturers display graphic images (like that seen below) of persons on cigarette packages to show just how deadly smoking can be to those who light up as well as those forced to inhale secondhand smoke. (Photo: Garfield Robinson) |
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The Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control through the Heart Foundation of Jamaica has received a grant from the Bloomberg Global Initiative to ensure the implementation of the rotating picture-based package warnings on tobacco products sold in four Caribbean countries - Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Dawn Williams, communications officer at the Heart Foundation of Jamaica said the treaty sets out the minimum actions that parties to the treaty must take in order to reduce tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.
Although the project covers four target countries, member states of Caricom will also benefit from this labelling standard.
She explained that to date nine Caribbean countries have signed and ratified the treaty.
Williams, who was addressing reporters and editors at the Observer's editorial meeting at its Kingston offices yesterday, explained that 24 images should be made available for printing on the packages, with 16 used initially for at least a two to three years cycle. She said the tobacco industry will foot the bill for printing these images on the package.
Williams said the Caribbean countries have begun pre-testing to get persons' reaction to the images and to determine how effective they will be.
"Persons are shown the images and we see what their reactions are," she said, adding that none of the pictures are doctored, but are of real persons affected by smoking.
"We are not in a scare tactic because we know this is an addiction but we need to give this information to people because for years the true information about tobacco was never shared with the public," she said.
Williams said Jamaica is ahead of the region in its bid to educate persons on the dangers associated with smoking as the warnings are now written on the package.
"We are going for 50 per cent front and back of the package," she said.
She added too that in some cases tobacco companies are increasing the amount of nicotine without saying so.
Meanwhile, Deborah Chen, executive director of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, said effective health warnings especially those that include pictures have been proven to motivate users to quit and to reduce the appeal of tobacco for those who are not yet addicted.
It is said that warning messages are most effective when they contain pictures, cover at least half of the pack and when they appear on both the front and back of the pack.
Chen said the greatest risk factor for heart disease is cigarette smoking. "Cigarette is the only legally available product which when used as directed will kill you,' she told the Observer.
Meanwhile Barbara McGaw, project manager, pointed to the debilitating diseases associated with smoking which she said is even of a greater concern than death.
"It is not just about death but what happens from the illnesses associated with smoking," she said.
Smoking is said to cause mouth, lung, chest and other cancers, strokes, heart attacks, blindness and impotence. It is also said to worsen diabetes, asthma and other breathing problems.
Cigarettes are said to release over 4,000 poisonous chemicals when lit up, one of which is the insecticide DDT found in insect sprays. Other poisons include cadmium used in batteries, ammonia used as household cleaners, carbon monoxide and arsenic a poison used in rat and other insect baits.
May 31 will be observed as World No Tobacco Day under the theme 'Tobacco Health Warnings'.
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