Gov’t plans to roll out new tobacco warnings

Home > Business > Economy

print dictionary print

Gov’t plans to roll out new tobacco warnings

테스트

A photo provided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare shows a new pictorial warning on cigarettes packs for tooth discoloration, one of the side effects of smoking. [YONHAP]

South Korea will change the graphic warnings on cigarette packs in December, the Health Ministry said Monday, in the latest move to curb smoking.

In 2016, South Korea required tobacco companies to put the pictorial warnings on the upper part of both sides of cigarette packs to help reduce smoking. The photos are required to cover more than 30 percent of both sides of a packet.

The government changes the graphic warnings every 24 months as part of its efforts to maintain awareness of the side effects of smoking, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

On Monday, the ministry announced 12 new pictorial warnings that will be placed on cigarette packs, including the electronic tobacco heating device called iQOS, starting on Dec. 23.

The graphic images show smokers suffering from fatal ailments, such as lung cancer, oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, heart attack and stroke, while also carrying warnings about serious side effects, such as the dangers of secondhand smoke, sexual dysfunction and premature death, according to the ministry.

The new graphic images include tooth discoloration, the ministry said.

The smoking rate for South Korean men aged 19 and older was 39.1 percent in 2016, down from 43.3 percent in 2014, according to government data. There was no government data on the smoking rate in 2015.


Yonhap
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)