Starting October, images of dead babies, cancerous throats and rotting teeth may appear on cigarette packs in Kenya. The government is considering adopting image-heavy packaging, with both pictures and text warnings about the dangers of smoking.
This decision is informed by statistics on adult tobacco consumption in Kenya that show more women are now using tobacco and that the number of men consuming tobacco products, is not reducing.
Kenya’s Ministry of Health has previously indicated that almost all tobacco smokers in the country started before the age of 25.
All manufacturers of tobacco products in Kenya will now be required to put graphic health warnings on their packages on the adverse effects of tobacco use, Nairobi News reports.
Images of dead babies or a sickly cigarette smoker with rotten teeth and a punctured throat will soon be printed on every cigarette pack to deter smoking, according to the Tobacco Control Regulations, 2014,
The regulations require both pictorial and text health warnings printed on the packets.
The law notes: “The manufacturer, seller, distributor or importer of a tobacco product shall ensure that the health warning and message including a pictogram or picture is not distorted or likely to be damaged, concealed, obliterated, removed or rendered permanently unreadable when the package on which it is printed is opened in the normal way.”
The regulations state that “the picture or pictogram used shall be in full colour with a favourable background that maximises noticeability and legibility of the health warnings.”
Nathan Bakyaita, regional coordinator for the World Health Organization in Kenya, said that the dangers of tobacco do not spare non-smokers, including children.
“In the growing and processing of tobacco there are effects that occur. For example, children who work in trying to raise tobacco are vulnerable to what we called the ‘green tobacco illness’ which is nicotine absorbed through the skin,” he said.
Soni Methu has this story.
