Thais have long been accustomed to seeing graphic health
warnings on cigarette packs
sold in their country.
What many may not realize is that Marlboro and Mild Seven packs sold in Thailand are made in the Philippines by Philip Morris International (PMI) and JT International (JTI) licensee Fortune Tobacco.
PMI, together with British American Tobacco, JTI and other Philippine tobacco companies, collectively represented as the Philippine Tobacco Institute, last year delayed implementation of the Philippine law requiring text health warnings on the front (only) of cigarette packs, citing “administrative feasibility”, “logistical nightmare”, and “costly exercise” among their reasons.
For the transnational tobacco companies in particular, this is an obvious case of double standards and double talk.
Why do companies like Philip Morris and JTI, which already print coloured graphic health warnings for Thailand, make excuses about printing simple text warnings for the Philippines?
It must be that Philip Morris and JTI love Thais more than Filipinos.
As the Second Conference of the Parties (COP-2) for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) draws to a close today, the Philippine government must be re- minded that, having ratified the FCTC in 2005, it must comply by September next year with Article 11 of the treaty requiring effective health warnings that should be 50% or more (but no less than 30%) of the principal display areas and that may include pictures or pictograms.
Considering that PMI and JTI have proven capability for producing graphic warnings, it should be very straightforward for the government to require these companies to print similar graphic warnings on ciga rette packs sold in the Philippines.
In the Filipino population of over 85 million people, 56% of men and 12% of women smoke, and every hour at least 9 Filipinos die due to smoking-related diseases.
Ulysses Dorotheo, MD,
FPAO
Senior Policy Adviser
FCTC Alliance, Philippines (FCAP)
Article intially published in the Alliance Bulletin #71 (p.6) during COP2 (pdf format)
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