Health warning templates for cigarettes out

AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Health (DOH) has finally released the 12 templates of the Graphic Health Warning (GHW) set to be placed in cigarette packs.

In its Administrative Order No. 2014-0037, the DOH said the 12 templates shall be used in cigarette and other tobacco product packages.

“These 12 templates shall be printed simultaneously and these shall be rotated periodically for each brand family and also for each variant, so that every 24 months, the variations of the warnings shall appear in the market with approximately equal frequency and equal display of health warnings and messages on retail packages,” the DOH said.

Included in the templates are images showing the negative effects of smoking, including people suffering from stroke, emphysema, mouth cancer, gangrene, impotence, throat cancer, neck cancer, as well as premature birth and low birth-weight of babies of smoking mothers.

Antitobacco groups like the New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP) welcomed the release of the GHW templates.