UICC Tobacco Control Fact Sheet 2

Health Warnings/Messages on Tobacco Products

The UICC believes that every country should implement an effective system of health warnings and labelling that recognizes the unique threat that tobacco poses to its consumers. This is a crucial part of informed consent. It also offers a cost-effective health education programme.

It is not sufficient to have a warning system in place. The key word is effective. To be effective warnings should:

• Contain a clear and unequivocal message about the dangers of tobacco use, in simple and stark terms. They should warn not only of the risk but of the degree of risk (evidence suggests that while some tobacco users may be aware of the diseases they may get, they are unaware of how tobacco use increases that risk, and of the consequences). Where any significant proportion of the user population cannot read, use should be made of graphic symbols to illustrate the dangers.
• Be undiluted by any attribution, e.g. the Chief Medical Officer warns … Other dangerous products do not qualify their warnings, and attributions add to package clutter while suggesting to some consumers that the danger is merely an "opinion" of a health department, the surgeon general etc. rather than a scientific fact.
• Be prominent. That means:
• Warnings should be on the front and back of the pack, not on the side panels;
• They should be at the top of the pack, not at the bottom;
• They should cover a minimum of 25 per cent of the package face. Legislation should also specify the size of the print;
• They should be in starkly contrasting colours. It is no good to design an effective message, only for it to be lost as part of the pack design. Blank and white warnings offer the best safeguard, but specified colours, e.g. red or yellow warnings could prove even more effective in many markets.
• In all cases, the legislation must specify the precise effect desired, otherwise the industry will use any loophole to reduce the impact of the warnings. Legislation should, for example, avoid ambiguous phrases like "contrasting colours" which the industry will inevitably interpret to undermine the intended effect.
• Apply to all tobacco products and all forms of packaging. It is no good having an effective warning on a cigarette pack, only to miss it off the roll-your-own tin, or the carton on display.
• Any effective warning will be as prominent in selling the health message as the industry's design will be effective in promoting the product. A really effective warning system will mean that the tobacco pack becomes a more effective method for promoting the health message than it does for promoting the image of glamorous tobacco use.
  

Labelling

Tobacco users also have the right to know what they are being asked to consume. This means that there should also be:

• a clear statement of the tar and nicotine content of the product, the statements to be verified by an independent laboratory;
• disclosure of all the additives, with a statement of their known health effects;
• an end to misleading labelling. Government regulations should lay down clearly what can be labelled as "Light", "Ultralight", or "Medium" according to recognized standards.
  

Package inserts

The requirement on manufacturers to place longer health messages inside the packet offers an innovative health promotion campaign targeted directly at tobacco users. Such inserts allow not only longer warnings, but also the use of graphics to bring home the dangers of tobacco use more clearly. The UICC believes that this approach should be widely adopted.

Legislation versus voluntary agreements

The tobacco industry has shown itself willing to accept weak health warnings as part of voluntary agreements. But there is a basic rule here. Any system of warnings that the industry is likely to accept voluntarily is unlikely to meet health concerns adequately.

Experience has shown that the industry is likely to find and exploit the loopholes that inevitably exist in legislation. So it is better to have regulations that can be amended rapidly to deal with problems that arise.

UICC Recommendation

The UICC believes that packages should be required to bear a number of rotating warnings. These should cover not only the risks to the tobacco user him- or herself, including the risk of addiction but also the risks to children, born and unborn from parental tobacco use, and the dangers of passive smoking. One message should also make clear that any smoker reduces their risk of early death by quitting.

Each warning should be clear, concise and unequivocal. It is, for instance, better to say "SMOKING KILLS" rather than "Cigarette use reduces life expectancy".

Health warnings should cover a minimum of 25% of the package face.

Sample warning messages

"SMOKING CAUSES HEART DISEASE"

"SMOKING CAUSES CANCER"

"SMOKING IS THE MAJOR CAUSE OF LUNG CANCER"

"TOBACCO IS ADDICTIVE"

Tobacco and Cancer Programme International Union Against Cancer 3, Rue du Conseil-Général, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: (4122) 809 1830, Fax: (4122) 809 1810 E-mail: tobacco-control@globalink.org | Tobacco and Cancer Programme