Graphic pics to appear on ciggy packs
- 00:02:02
- ITN
Graphic pics to appear on ciggy packs
Graphic pictures of throat cancer and rotting teeth are to appear on cigarette packets from next month to illustrate the health risks of smoking, the Department of Health (DoH) has announced. Among the other images smokers will see are rotting lungs, a corpse in a morgue and a body cut open during surgery. The UK is the first country in the EU to introduce the photo warnings, which will be manufactured on cigarette packets from October 1. The warnings will extend to all cigarette packets by October 2009 and other tobacco products from October 2010. The photos will appear on the back of packets accompanied by a written health warning. They replace the previous warnings introduced in January 2003, although the messages 'Smoking kills' and 'Smoking seriously harms you and others around you' will continue to appear on the front of packets. New figures showed written warnings had motivated more than 90,000 smokers to call the NHS Smoking Helpline, the DoH said. However smoking is still the biggest killer in England where it causes the premature death of more than 87,000 people each year. The photos are expected to be more effective than text, and research suggested that warnings should be changed periodically to maintain their effectiveness, the DoH said. Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: "I welcome the introduction of picture warnings on tobacco product packaging, which show smokers the grim reality of the effects smoking can have on their health. "This will help to maintain the momentum of the increasing number of people who have given up smoking following England going smoke free in 2007." Graphic images are now used on tobacco products sold in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, Venezuela, Thailand and Uruguay.
ITN | September 27, 2008
