Cancer survivors ask government: Implement graphic health warning on cigarettes

MANILA, Philippines – A group of cancer survivors asked the government yesterday to strictly implement Republic Act 10643 or the Graphic Health Warning (GHW) Law on tobacco products.

In a statement, New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP) president Emer Rojas said pictorial health warnings should appear on cigarette packages to show the harmful effects of smoking starting on Nov. 5.

“By Nov. 5, all tobacco companies should comply with the law and not sell their products that do not have graphic health warnings,” Rojas said.

Under RA 10643, which was signed on July 15 last year, tobacco firms are required to put pictorial health warnings at the bottom of cigarette packs.

Rojas said the government should start implementing the law on Nov. 5, or one year after the Department of Health came up with the necessary templates.

He said they received information that the tobacco industry is lobbying with the Inter-Agency Committee on Tobacco, headed by the Department of Trade and Industry, in an effort to delay the implementation of the law to March 2016.

Rojas also hit the delay in the issuance of the implementing rules and regulations for the GHW.