Your cigarette pack to get gory look in September

In a months’ time, the packet of cigarette you buy will likely have a graphic image of the dangers of smoking. It is also bound to be more expensive.

The gruesome pictures on the cigarette packages and higher taxes on tobacco products are expected to strengthen the health warnings and kill the glamour of smoking.

Jack Kioko, the Director of Medical Services, says the new packs will be on shop shelves beginning September.

“I am happy to inform the public that the tobacco regulations will come into force in about a month from now, and Kenya will be able to implement the long- awaited graphic health warnings,” he said.

The gruesome pictures, in addition to warnings in words will explicitly show the consequences of the habit, ranging from the depiction of various body cancers, impotence, infertility and deaths.

The graphics are in addition to the Ministry of Health’s move to push for neutral packaging for cigarettes. Other countries have forced tobacco companies to adopt plain packaging, remove all colour and branding logos, in a world-first move aimed at cutting smoking-related deaths.

UK picked the ugliest colour in the world, a drab, dark brown also called opaque couché on the cigarette packets to discourage smoking.

Ireland and France have followed suit and passed “plain packaging” laws as well, using the same murky colour. Dr Kioko asked the Tobacco Control Unit to initiate the implementation of standardised packaging “to strengthen the effectiveness of the graphic warnings.’’

Currently, packages of products containing tobacco only bear plain warning labels in text form: “Cigarette smoking is harmful to your health.”
The Tobacco Control Act 2007 provides that the health warnings must cover 30 per cent of the front and 50 per cent of the back of the package and must be displayed both in English and Kiswahili languages.

If all countries increased tobacco taxes by 50 per cent, there would be 49 million fewer smokers within the next three years, the World Health Organisation estimates.

Besides the health dangers, the smoking habit has massive economic consequences on uses. Averagely, a smoker in Kenya spends Sh1,072 on cigarettes per month with those in the age bracket of 15-24 years spending twice as much money at Sh2,008 per month, the Global Adult Tobacco (GATS) Survey-Kenya Report said.

The high spend on cigarette, however, comes as a boon for manufacturers. According to the fifth World Tobacco Atlas in 2013, profits in the tobacco industry were more than Sh4.3 trillion while 6.3 million people died from smoking-related illness, an equivalent of a profit of Sh700,000 for each death caused by tobacco.

Prof Peter Odhiambo, the head of the Tobacco Control Board, said smoking prevalence in developing countries was soaring due to the aggressive investment and marketing strategies by the tobacco industry.

“The war is far from over because we know these companies intend to delay, delude, and destroy our efforts to tackle the tobacco use in the country. We must keep on,” he said.

The Health ministry said global evidence shows that graphic health warning are effective at encouraging smokers to quit and deterring youth from starting.

For instance a report, Tobacco Health Warnings in China says that large pictorial or graphic health warnings on all tobacco packages bore fruit.

However, there has been concern that the impact of the gruesome images wanes over time and that some smokers resume their normal habits. Some opt to remove the cigarettes from the packing and put them in more “classy” holders.

Cigarette smoke changes the way lungs operate, paralyses cells lining the airways, making one not to expel mucus effectively.

It also predisposes people to bronchitis, lung, lips, mouth and airway cancers, said Dr Peter Munyu, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Aga Khan University Hospital in a previous interview.

It also leads to skin and lip changes especially in women and impotence or weak erections in men.