Uganda is to implement within six months, a new warning label on tobacco products, according to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards. The new label will read in English and Swahili:
"Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart diseases and death."
It replaces the current health warning: "Cigarette smoking can be harmful to your health."
Although the new warning label is stronger than the current one, it does pose serious limitations- the text is still in English and Swahili- Swahili is not widely spoken in Uganda and many illiterate smokers cannot read English.
Uganda having ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in June 2007, is obligated implement by 2010, tobacco health warning labels that are rotating, large, clear, visible and should cover 50% or more of the principal display areas but shall be no less than 30% of the principal display areas. The FCTC also recommends graphic or pictorial health warnings and these are already being implemented in several countries including Egypt, Brazil, Thailand, Canada and India.
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