The
committee composed of both senators and congressmen passed the bill
directing the Department of Health to issue 12 templates of pictures and
illustrations that warn about the dangers of smoking.
The
full Senate and House of Representatives are expected to formally pass
the bill before it is signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III,
who backed an earlier "sin tax" law that raised taxes on tobacco and
alcohol products.
The
illustrations, which could include pictures of cancerous lungs and
throats, will occupy the lower half of the front and back panels of a
cigarette pack. The current warning contains only words, saying that
smoking is dangerous.
Philippine
health officials said in 2012 that 17.3 million of the country's 96
million people smoke — one of Southeast Asia's highest rates — and
87,000 die per year from tobacco-related diseases.
"This is a big victory for health advocates," said Dr. Anthony Leachon, president of the Philippine College of Physicians.
Leachon
said images of damaged body parts, such as before-and-after pictures of
a lung ravaged by smoking, will have a greater impact, especially on
non-smokers.
The bill also instructs the Department of Education to include the hazards of smoking in the school curriculum.In recent years, more than 40 countries or jurisdictions have introduced cigarette labels with graphic anti-smoking warnings. The World Health Organization said in a survey done in countries with graphic labels that a majority of smokers noticed the warnings and more than 25 percent said the warnings led them to consider quitting.
The
Philippine bill follows the passage in late 2012 of a "sin tax" law,
which raised the excise tax on tobacco and alcohol products to
discourage their use and raise revenues for health programs.
A
recent survey commissioned by the Department of Health indicated that
the law helped reduce smoking among the poor and young people, the main
targets of the law.
It said
that smoking prevalence among the very poor dropped from 38 percent in
December 2012 to 25 percent in March this year. Smoking among people
aged 18 to 24 also fell from 35 percent to 18 percent during the same
period.
