‘Plain packaging’ for tobacco products in Sri Lanka | Daily News

‘Plain packaging’ for tobacco products in Sri Lanka

 

Sri Lanka is planning to introduce ‘plain packaging’ on tobacco products to curb consumption, President Maithripala Sirisena said yesterday at the WHO global anti-tobacco conference in India.

“Tobacco and alcohol control are at the top of my national agenda,” President Sirisena said, urging the world community to resist the attempts of the tobacco industry to undermine tobacco control through litigation and interference in government policy-making.

Plain tobacco packaging requires the removal of all corporate branding - colours, imagery, logos etc. - from the product, allowing manufacturers to print only the brand name in a mandated size, font and place, as well as health warnings and other legally mandated information.

The WHO recommends plain packaging as part of a comprehensive approach to tobacco control and has said that strong evidence supports the conclusion that plain packaging reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products, restricts use of the pack as a form of advertising and promotion, limits misleading packaging, and increases the effectiveness of health warnings.

 Australia was the first country to mandate plain tobacco packaging – in 2012, followed by Ireland, France and the United Kingdom.


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