No to Smoking
Last night two of my colleagues and I covered an event in Katipunan called “One Smoke-Free Night,” a benefit concert for project Brave Kids. It was also an avenue to raise public awareness on the health hazards of cigarette smoking. One of the event’s organizer was FCAP or Framework Convention on tobacco control Alliance Philippines. Currently, the organization is pursuing the passing of House Bill (HB) 3364 or the Picture-Based Health Warning Bill, which, when approved, graphic photos of the effects of smoking to ones health will replace the usual text warning in cigarette packs. The picture-based warning will be placed on the back panel of the cigarette package, the picture will occupy at least fifty percent of the back panel and the text warning must be in Filipino. In addition, no misleading descriptions should be placed in cigarette packs like “light or low tar,” because no matter how “light” or “low” the tar content is, it will still have the same effect in a person’s health.
a sample of how the picture-based warning will look like in cigarette packs
