Cigarette Graphic Warnings Most Cover Most of Package..

September 5, 2008 - Health Canada set out to find out whether increasing the warning size from the current level - 50 percent of the panel's surface - to 75, 90 or 100 percent of cigarette packages would have a greater effect on smokers. After interviewing 730 adult smokers, 306 teen smokers and 440 teens who are likely to start smoking, the firm found that warnings need to cover at least 90 percent of the package for the negative messages about smoking to achieve "substantial" and "significant" effects on most indicators.

Melodie Tilson, an expert in tobacco packaging and the director of policy for the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, said this is the most important finding. "What really stood out is going from 90 percent to 100 percent made a huge difference," said Tilson, characterizing the move to plain packaging and "eliminating the ability of the industry to promote smoking" as the "logical next step in tobacco control." André Calantzopoulos, the Chief Operating Officer of Philip Morris International (PMI), has stated that PMI is strongly opposed to generic packaging. (London, Tobacco Conference, 6/27/2008 - TW)

These results build on research released earlier this year, conducted by Environics on behalf of Health Canada, which found that the current graphic health warnings on cigarette packages covering half the pack are failing to encourage the majority of smokers to quit. (Impact of graphic anti-smoking photos burning out by Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service, 7/4/2008)

Reference: Cigarette packs need to have horrific graphics to deter teens: research by Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service, 9/3/2008.

Countries which have picture based cigarette health warnings from
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Also, from the Globalink Multimedia Center: World Tobacco-Control Image Database.

Some related news briefs: Britain to put picture warnings on ALL tobacco products.. and Horror photos go on New Zealand cigarette packs...

Click on image to enlarge.. TobaccoWatch.org