Health Ministry seeks plain packaging to curb cigarette smoking

What you need to know:

If enforced, the move will be in line with this year’s WHO theme for countries to adopt plain and standardized packaging as a strategy to control tobacco use.
If Kenya goes the UK way as recommended by the WHO, 65 per cent of the front and back of all packs of cigarettes will be covered by health warnings, while the brand name will be restricted to a standard size, font and colour.
The Global Youth Tobacco Survey of 2013 showed that 10 per cent of Kenyan youth aged 13 to 15 years are regular consumers of tobacco products.

Tobacco companies operating in Kenya may soon face yet another hurdle as the Ministry of Health seeks to introduce neutral packaging for cigarettes.

The move is aimed at killing the 'glamour' of smoking to protect Kenyans from the harmful effects of nicotine.

“A formal plan and timeline for implementation of plain packaging shall be developed in line with the national tobacco control programme and priorities,” said Dr Cleopa Mailu, Cabinet Secretary for Health during the commemoration of "World No Tobacco" day in Nairobi.

“This will go hand in hand with strengthening of the existing health warnings and the ban on misleading packaging and labelling. This will ensure that bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship are comprehensive,” he added.

If enforced, the move will be in line with this year’s theme for countries to adopt plain and standardized packaging as a strategy to control tobacco use.

The United Kingdom has recently implemented plain packaging for tobacco products.

Earlier this month, cigarettes in the European country started being sold in standardised green packaging bearing graphic warnings of the dangers of smoking instead of the usual labels.

If Kenya goes the UK way as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), 65 per cent of the front and back of all packs of cigarettes will be covered by health warnings, while the brand name will be restricted to a standard size, font and colour.

READ: Kenya to ban brand names on cigarette packets

Tobacco firms in Britain only have a year to sell old stock and fully implement the changes.

It also aims at restricting tobacco advertising and promotion, while limiting misleading packaging and labelling and increased effectiveness of health warnings.

“The industry has continued to design packages that make the products more attractive to promote tobacco consumption despite the harmful effect involved,” Dr Mailu said Monday.

Tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke are major risk factors for non-communicable diseases such as Cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive airway diseases and diabetes.

Kenya’s 2015 STEPwise Survey for Non communicable Diseases risk factors, revealed that 13 per cent of adults use tobacco products and that one in five Kenyans are exposed to second hand tobacco smoke at home.

The Global Youth Tobacco Survey of 2013 showed that 10 per cent of Kenyan youth aged 13 to 15 years are regular consumers of tobacco products.

At least 6 million people die every year globally as a result of smoking, chewing and sniffing tobacco, with 600,000 of them being as a result of exposure to second hand tobacco.

Australia became the first country in the world to implement plain packaging in December 2012.

Dr Chan said "Plain packaging reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products. It kills the glamour, which is appropriate for a product that kills people.”