Jordan - new larger graphic warnings on cigarette packs coming within next 6-months...

January 15, 2011 - New graphic images depicting the negative impact of smoking on health will soon be dominating cigarette packets across the country, according to health officials.

Background: In March, 2005, the Jordanian government announced that it would require an image of a diseased lung to be printed on cigarette packages. The health warnings cover 33% of the front and 33% of the back of the package. Overall, 33% of the package space is appropriated to health warnings. One side of the package covers a pictorial warning, while the other side covers a text-only warning. Jordan utilizes two warnings on their packages, one pictorial warning and one text warning.

Current On-Pack Warning Labels..

EMERGING ROLE OF ON-PACK WARNING LABELS IN EFFECTIVE TOBACCO CONTROL POLICY IMPLEMENTATION, Tatyana El-Kour, MS, RD and Hashim El-Zein El-Mousaad, MD, World Health Organization, Jordan Country Office, March 9, 2009.

Four images featuring lung and lip cancers and stained teeth will be printed on 50 percent of one side of each cigarette packet under an initiative spearheaded by the health ministry to highlight diseases related to smoking. “The warning images will also include a pregnant woman smoking to highlight the risks associated with smoking during pregnancy,” Bassam Hijjawi, director of the ministry’s disease control department, told The Jordan Times over the phone on Sunday.

He added that the unsightly images will be featured on all tobacco products within the next six months, noting that the initiative was delayed by logistical issues.

“This is why a lot of tobacco companies have resorted to giving away free leather cases to hide the images,” Hijjawi said, indicating that Jordan was the first country in the region to put warning graphics on cigarette packets.

Under its adoption of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC), in 2006 the Kingdom obliged local tobacco companies to include an image of diseased lungs on cigarette packs as an additional warning against the dangers of smoking.

Reference: Cigarette packets to turn ugly under new initiative by Laila Azzeh, The Jordan Times, 1/14/2011.

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