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View all search resultsHealth Ministry to push regulation on tobacco plain packaging
Studies looking at Australia and other countries that have imposed plain packaging for tobacco products found a drop in the number of smokers following the implementation of such a policy.
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A cigarette vendor smokes on Jan. 29, 2023, as he awaits customers at his roadside stall in Surabaya, East Java. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
T
he government is preparing a regulation for plain packaging for tobacco products and electronic cigarettes, a plan that has been welcomed by health advocacy groups as an attempt to control cigarette consumption but met with opposition from business and consumer associations.
The Health Ministry is drafting a ministerial regulation on health warnings and information displays on conventional and electronic cigarettes. Among provisions in the regulation are requirements for tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging in an effort to reduce their appeal to children and teenagers.
Under the draft, tobacco products would be sold in packages featuring a uniform color scheme, while brand identities would remain displayed alongside pictorial health warnings.
“Cigarette packaging should not be used as a promotional medium that encourages young people to start smoking,” Health Ministry acting disease control director general Andi Saguni said in a statement on June 5, while stressing the regulation would not ban the sale of legal tobacco products.
He added that public attention would be more focused on the health messages on the packaging when eye-catching designs are reduced, a method Andi claimed has been proven effective in other countries such as Australia, Canada and Singapore.
Several studies looking at the impact of the policy in Australia, which was first implemented in 2012, found that plain packaging of tobacco products helped reduce the number of smokers by around 108,000. Researchers also found a drop of teenage smokers aged 12 to 17 to 5 percent in 2014 from 7 percent in 2011.
Read also: Tobacco content raises alarm over children’s online safety
