Thailand redesigns warning labels on cigarette packs showing extreme effects of smoking

Thailand has redesigned the graphic warning labels on cigarette packages, which show the harmful -and extreme – effects of smoking. Retailers and wholesalers across the country must start selling cigarettes with the new packaging starting April 11.

The new labelling will be in line with an official announcement made in 2021 by the Public Health Ministry under the Tobacco Products Control Act. Cigarette packages must be sold with revised warnings as well as updated graphical labels that illustrate details of the harmful effects of smoking, according to the deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control.

“Violators who still sell cigarette packets with the old pictorial warnings are liable to a fine of no more than 40,000 baht.”

Officers found numerous retail stores continue to sell packages without the required labels. Some people even openly promote cigarette packs.

Anyone using the name or trademark of cigarette brands in publications for advertising purposes face an up to six-month jail sentence and a fine of up to 500,000 baht, as well as a fee of up to 50,000 baht each day until the cigarette sales are in line with Thai law.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post