BSJ Developing Cigarette Warning Labels for Region

Source from:  TANEISHA LEWIS, Observer staff reporter lewist@jamaicaobserver.com August 1 08/18/2008

THE Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) is currently developing cigarette warning labels to be adopted as the standard for the Caribbean Community (Caricom) - a move aimed at reducing tobacco consumption in the region. "Jamaica has been given the challenge of taking the lead on regulating cigarette labelling initially and tobacco in general," Wayne Stewart, chairman of the Labelling Technical Committee explained. "We are hoping to get it out of our hands and back to CROSQ (Caricom Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality) for their final review and we believe that they will likely send it out for further comment. We will be looking at the comments. We will be assessing them as they come back to us." Stewart said the committees hope to have a final meeting by the end of this month "to look at what needs to be done" before the proposal is sent to CROSQ for approval. Once approved, it will then be submitted to the Counsel for Trade and Economic Development for the final endorsement. Stewart made the disclosure Wednesday, the second day of the Caribbean Regional Workshop on the Implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. One of the main goals of the workshop is to finalise the draft Caricom Standard on labelling and packaging products collectively so that it can be ratified by Caricom health ministers. If accepted, the standard would supersede all national standards in the future The FCTC, which was ratified by Jamaica in 2006, is a legally-binding treaty which contains a number of measures designed to reduce the devastating health and economic impacts of tobacco use. The Jamaica Cigarette Labelling Standard was amended in 2006 to reflect the standards set out in the FCTC, through collaboration with the BSJ. At present, cigarette cartons display warning about the effects of smoking. However, if the new standard is approved, the cartons will have graphic pictures depicting the harmful effects of smoking tobacco. This is in keeping with Article 11 of the FCTC, which states that each unit packet and package of tobacco products and any outside packaging and labelling of such products must also carry health warnings describing the harmful effects of tobacco use. It also states that these warnings and messages should be 50 per cent or more of the principal display areas, but not less than 30 per cent. However, Adrian Booth - the Ministry of Health representative on the Labelling Technical Committee - told the Observer that the committee is presently working on including at least 50 per cent graphics on the front and back of cigarette cartons, while cartons which are cylindrical in shape will see the graphics taking up a third of the space. Another requirement under the convention is that the warnings and the messages on the cartons must be rotated. Stewart, in the meantime, said the committee would be relying on the health ministry to determine the exact wording and pictures that will be used on the cartons for the standard labels. Enditem