The FCTC allows parties an accelerated period of three (3) years to introduce package warnings upon ratification. Thus, for the African countries that have ratified and made it to the COP1 they have less than two years to make good their promise to abide by the regulations of the FCTC.
In more ways than one, the warning label as contained in the article 11 of the FCTC would help Africa, if quickly implemented.
For
instance specific harm message on cigarette packs will reveal a lot to
African people and as such the cliché that one picture is better than a
thousand words is very apt here.
A
good case study is Canada that is believed to be a pacesetter in FCTC
implementation. In 2002, Canada’s impotence warning label according to
reports made great impression on the people of Canada to such an extent
that 60% of Canadian smokers believed that smoking causes impotence.
Besides
Canada, the United Kingdom also added an impotence warning and great
was the number of converts who believed with a rising percentage from
36% to 50%.
There is no doubt that warning labels may have
greater impact in Africa, but this calls for a concerted efforts of the
tobacco control advocates across Africa.
The time is now to remind/lobby the government contact persons in countries that have ratified in Africa to shun the proposal of “sensible regulations” from tobacco industries and work hard to implement pictorial warning labels that will save Africans from man made death.
Comments