Cabral mulls AO enforcing picture warnings on cigarette packs

MANILA, Philippines - Giving up on the possibility of lawmakers curbing cigarette use, Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral is now working on an initiative to compel cigarette manufacturers to place explicit pictures on the health effects of smoking on every pack of cigarettes.

During the launch of Proclamation No. 2001 declaring the year 2010 as the “Year of the Lung,” Cabral said she is studying the possibility of compelling tobacco companies through an administrative order to print anti-cigarette photographs on their products without necessarily doing so through legislation.

“I’m studying this but in the soonest possible time, we’ll be pushing for it (administrative order). By stopping cigarette smoking, we can prevent deaths and cardiovascular and lung illnesses including chronic pulmonary obstructive diseases and cancer,” she said.

The Department of Health (DOH) and the non-governmental group Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) had been calling on Congress to pass measures mandating cigarette manufacturers to place pictures of the ill effects of smoking on every pack of cigarettes.

FCAP executive director Maricar Limpin said the World Health Organization (WHO) supported the idea of placing photographs on every cigarette pack “as the most effective way to curb and discourage the habit.

“Other countries have implemented tighter measures to control the sale of cigarettes, including the placing of gory photographs, instead of the usual ‘cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health’ labels.”

There had been pending bills in Congress since 2007 seeking to put such pictures on every cigarette pack.

Limpin pointed out there had been violations on the ban on outdoor advertisements by cigarette manufacturers.

“We hope that the next leaders of our country will have the political will to resist tobacco companies. We hope that they will give priority to health,” she said.

Lung specialists from the Philippine College of Chest Physicians (PCCP) said more than 10 million Filipinos die and get sick annually from the effects of cigarette smoking.

“Lung diseases afflict people in every country and every socio-economic group, but take the heaviest toll on the poor, the old, the young and the weak,” the PCCP said.

While cases of asthma, lung cancer and other lung diseases are prevalent in industrialized countries, they are now “major problems” in low- and middle-income countries like the Philippines, they said.

PCCP warned that these illnesses might even “overwhelm public health services.”

“On top of all these is the smoking epidemic, the leading preventable cause of death. The cost of these lung diseases runs to millions of pesos this year, maybe even billions, in lost productivity and increased health care expenses...yet public demand and political commitment remain inadequate to effect significant change,” the group said.

Under Proclamation No. 2001, the President is empowered to take “preventive measures through a more intensified advocacy campaign, effective strategies to curb the epidemic causing serious and debilitating lung disorders.”