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Nhan Dan Online - In Vietnam,
tobacco use is responsible for 5 deaths every hour. That is
40,000 deaths each year, four times the number of people
that die on the country’s roads each year, according to the
World Health Organization (WHO).
The organisation on May 29
called on governments to use graphic pictures on tobacco
products to show the frightening physical results of
smoking.
The tobacco industry invest a
large sum of money on designing attractive packages that
makes a deadly product look safe and appealing. They also
spend millions of dollars on advertising and promotional
campaigns to divert attention from the deadly effects of its
products and to lure new users and keep them from quitting.
To counter that effect, packets
should show shocking photos of lung tumours, blood clots in
the brain and decaying gums.
Experience from around the world
shows that pictorial warnings motivate users to quit and
discourage people, particularly the young ones, from
starting.
Tobacco is the world's leading
preventable cause of death and the only product that kills
when used exactly as the manufacturer intends.
Worldwide, more than 5 million
people die from tobacco each year — more than from HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis combined.
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In Vietnam, studies show that
application of large pictorial health warnings could
help save about 500 lives a year by 2023 and 750
lives a year by 2033. |
“Studies reveal that even among
people who believe tobacco is harmful, few understand its
many specific health risks”, said Dr. Jean-Marc Olivé, WHO
Representative in Vietnam.
“Despite this, health warnings
on tobacco packages in Vietnam do not provide enough
information to warn consumers of the risks,” Dr. Olivé
emphasised.
Pictorial health warnings on
tobacco packages are a simple, cheap and effective strategy
that can vastly reduce tobacco use and save lives.
It is time for all countries to
act to save lives.
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Vietnam is one of 164 countries that
have ratified the WHO Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control, making it one of the most widely
embraced treaties in UN history.
The treaty commits its
Parties to requiring that tobacco products "carry
health warnings describing the harmful effects of
tobacco use". Its best practice guidelines stipulate
that warnings should be large and clear, appear on
both sides of tobacco packages and include pictures. |
T.S |
