Tobacco companies told to be ready for plain packaging

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has called on tobacco producing companies to be ready to begin the use of packages void of messages advertising the product.

The call was reiterated by the Cameroon Coalition to Counter Tobacco, C3T, during a press briefing in Yaounde recently within the framework of the 2016 World Anti-Tobacco Day.

The Project Coordinator of C3T, Patrick Nsangou, told members of the press that their presence was a sign of their determination to ensure the wellbeing of the population through the fight against tobacco.

Nsangou said on May 31, every year, WHO calls on the international community to reflect on a particular aspect of tobacco control so as to effect the expected changes that would benefit public health in regards to tobacco.

Re-echoing this year’s theme, which was: “Get Ready for Plain Packaging,” Nsangou said, it was inspired by directives for the application of Articles 11 and 13 of the WHO Framework Convention to Counter Tobacco. The articles recommend parties to the convention to envisage the adoption of plain packaging in their respective countries.

He told the press that “plain packaging is an important tool in reducing demand which makes tobacco products less attractive; hampers the use of packaging as a means of advertising and promotion; limits the packages and deceitful etiquettes and efficaciously increases health safeguard. Plain packaging limits or [completely] bans the use of logos, colours, images of the trademark or promotional texts on packets.

“Plain packaging is within other extended measures that are part of the global multi-sectoral approach to counter tobacco. Political and civil society leaders as well as the general public can take initiative that could compel governments to envisage the adoption of plain packaging,” Nsangou stated.

He said to implement the directives of WHO Framework Convention to Counter Tobacco on packaging and etiquette of tobacco products for a smooth move over to plain packaging, Cameroon, through the Ministries of Health and Trade, signed a joint arête in 2007 carrying health warnings on both faces of the cigarette packet. The message states that smoking seriously damages the health of the smoker and those around him.

The C3T Project Coordinator mentioned results of the 2013 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) conducted in Cameroon by the Ministry of Public Health in collaboration with the National Institute of Statistics, in which 74.5 percent of smokers took note of health warnings on the cigarette packet while 35.5 percent of the smokers envisaged stopping smoking because of the health warnings they saw on the packets.

Nsangou added that a high percentage of the people sampled were for more illustrative and dissuasive messages that clearly portray the risk linked with tobacco consumption.

“Evolving towards graphical and image illustration will facilitate movement towards plain packaging, thereby hampering young people from engaging in smoking while encouraging smokers to stop smoking entirely.

“Controlling cigarette packages is a crucial element in the efforts to counter tobacco. Cigarette packets are excellent means of diffusing messages in regards to the damaging impact of tobacco,” Nsangou remarked.

He hailed all stakeholders working with them for a tobacco-free world.