Cancer survivors demand anew picture-based warnings for cigarettes

MANILA, Philippines - Around 150 throat cancer survivors marched to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) office in Quezon City Friday in an “urgent appeal” to the government to impose picture-based warning on cigarette packs.

Dubbed the “Right Health Walk,” the protesters wanted the government to prioritize the passage of a law that will require tobacco firms to put the graphic warnings on their labels.

The protesters were primarily from the New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP), a group of throat cancer survivors, and other organizations composed of persons with disabilities, urban poor, youth, senior citizens, medical professionals and other health advocates.

According to NVAP president Emer Rojas, 10 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion smokers can be found in the Philippines and in other countries in Southeast Asia.

“We are the second largest smoking population in this region with 17.3 million adults smoking. More than 87,000 Filipinos die every year because of smoking – that’s more than the number of those who succumb to heart attack and stroke. This is clear and present danger that must be addressed at the soonest,” he said.

It is NVAP’s third time to hold the “Right to Health Walk” to push public health issues to the fore.

Rojas noted graphic health warnings provide a clearer message on the effects of smoking and will particularly benefit women, children, and the poor.

Based on the Tobacco Atlas of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance in 2013, the Philippines is among the top three countries with the most number of smoking women in the region.

It was estimated that nine percent of Filipino women are smokers, more than their counterparts in Indonesia, the country that holds the most number of tobacco consumers in the region, where only 4.5 percent of women smoke.

Rojas said that while the tobacco industry is “barred by law to advertise their products, these packages serve as the cheapest way to communicate to their potential customers.”