Graphic pics to deter smokers
2006-05-10 17:46
Wellington - Graphic pictures of rotting teeth, throat cancer and feet with gangrene will be put on cigarette packs in New Zealand, the country's health ministry announced on Wednesday.
The move is part of the New Zealand government's latest campaign to decrease resident's smoking.
"It is about getting some truth in labelling. Then you know that what you see is what you get," said the country's associate minister of health, Damien O'Connor.
"The evidence is clear, if you smoke, you have a very good chance of being exposed to the types of harm graphically portrayed by these images."
Although public-health campaigns and regulations - including banning smoking in all cafes, bars and workplaces - have reduced the incidence of smoking, one in four adult New Zealanders still smoke.
"In a country where we pride ourselves on our outdoor healthy options, our smoking rate remains alarmingly high," said O'Connor.
He said that evidence from countries such as Thailand, Canada, Australia and Brazil, which have used pictorial warnings on cigarette packs, showed the strategies were very effective in reducing smoking.
O'Conner unveiled 14 images on Wednesday. New Zealanders can comment on the images, before their government makes the new warnings compulsory.
A spokesperson for British American Tobacco, Carrick Graham, told Radio New Zealand that written warnings had not cut the number of people smoking and putting pictures on packets would "not make any difference either".
- SAPA