LONDON, England (Agence de Presse Medicale) - Cigarette packets could carry pictures of diseased organs and rotten teeth, British Health Secretary John Reid said on Saturday, the first anniversary of the UK tobacco advertising ban.
Canada, Thailand, Brazil and Singapore have already introduced health warnings with color photographs, and the European Commission is developing a database of photographs for European countries to use.
When these are released later this year, the Department of Health will launch a public consultation on its plans for pictorial warnings.
"We have already made a lot of progress with the new starker warnings on packs but we need to continue with fresh, hard-hitting ideas - providing more information that will help smokers quit," Reid said in a statement. "Pictorial warnings have been shown to be successful in other countries, making more smokers consider the health risks to themselves and the people around them."
The Health Department said research from Canada showed that the images used on packets there, which include diseased organs and rotten teeth, grab smokers' attention and act as an effective smoking cessation intervention, making them more likely to quit.
Pro-smoking groups pledged to oppose the idea. Simon Clark, head of the Freedom Organization for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco, said: "There are lots of products that are potentially hazardous to the consumer. Are they going to have graphic warnings on cars, sweets and alcohol, or fatty foods and dairy products?"
Latest UK figures show that more people than ever are using the National Health Service's "stop smoking" services, the Health Department said. Almost 130,000 people set a quit date from April to September 2003, and of those more than 68,000 had successfully quit at the four-week follow up. This compares with 55,700 in the same period in 2002.
Around 78% of people received nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), 9% received Zyban (bupropion) and 1% received both NRT and bupropion. Spending on NHS Stop Smoking Services in the six months was 14.9 million pounds, not including the cost of NRT or bupropion.
Buprioprion and NRT products have been available on NHS prescription since June 2000 and April 2001, respectively. Around 1,169,000 NRT and 124,000 buproprion prescriptions, worth 25.6 million pounds and 4.7 million pounds respectively, were dispensed in the financial year 2002-03.
The UK introduced smoking cessation services in 26 action zones in 1999-00 and rolled them out nationally in 2000-01. By March 2003, 134 smoking cessation coordinators had been appointed. Health professionals are also encouraged to advise smokers to quit in the course of their normal work.
In one local initiative, the West Midlands anti-smoking service asked family doctors to write to all smokers inviting them to get in touch. The letters, starting with the line "we know that 70% of smokers want to give up, if you're one, get in touch," resulted in 550 people setting a quit date.
This idea is now being developed by other services across the country and the Department of Health hopes to secure its wider adoption.
"This is exactly the sort of initiative that will raise awareness of the help available out there for people trying to kick the habit," Reid said.
The Health Department estimates that 13 million UK adults smoke and that every year the habit costs the NHS 1.7 billion pounds and kills in excess of 120,000 persons.
UK Plans to Show Diseased Organs on Cigarette Packs
Moderator: S2k Moderators
- TexasStooge
- Category 5
- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
- streetsoldier
- Retired Staff
- Posts: 9705
- Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2003 11:33 pm
- Location: Under the rainbow
Re: cigarettes
sunnyday wrote:Go for it! I'm for almost anything that will stop smoking and save lives.
Agreed.
0 likes
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests