Death in a stick
by: Jamila Hiba Padilla
Government warning: Cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health. That text warning is found in cigarette packs and yet, people constantly ignore the warning and continue to smoke the night away.
Pulling out a cigarette is easier than the outcome; the outcome is irreversible but is preventable. “Having too much of anything is bad”, so if you care about your health, stop inhaling the chemicals and put the cigarette down. If you just started smoking, you still have the chance to stop.
To stop or not to stop?
According to the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), results show that 17.3 million Filipino adults with the age of 15 years and older are tobacco smokers, 14.6 M of which are male smokers who can consume 11 cigarettes per day. While 2.6M are female smokers and can consume 7 cigarettes per day as well. Among adults who smoked before the survey, 48% of them wanted to stop smoking but only 5% actually succeeded. It seems then that smoking is addictive and is difficult to stop. As a result, 10 Filipinos die every hour of smoke-related diseases, that’s 240 Filipinos in a day. It’s not even a surprise as to how the Philippines ranked second in Asia for tobacco use.
Not yet convinced? Here’s a little idea of what you’re getting yourself into. Lung cancer is probably the well-known disease, not to mention it is one of the top cancer related diseases a Filipino can have when engaging in vices like smoking: Lung cancer, colon cancer, even leukaemia. Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), it causes the increasing of cough due to inflammation of the airways and damages the breathing tubes in the lungs. Cardiovascular disease, the chemicals found in cigarette smoke may reduce the amount of oxygen your heart gets, can raise blood pressure and harm the interior blood vessels including those in the heart. Even people who smoke 5 cigarettes a day can have signs of cardiovascular disease. Oral health problems, it darkens gums and it could lead to teeth discoloration, bad breath, gum disease and oral cancer. And finally a reproductive issue, smoking makes it harder for women to become pregnant and can affect her baby’s health before and after birth. For the men, it can have a negative impact on their sperm, which can reduce fertility and increases birth defects.
Picture warnings
Referring back to the question as to why people continue to buy cigarettes. The government warning in text was prescribed by RA 9211 (An Act regulating by the Packaging, Use, Sale, Distribution and Advertisements of Tobacco Products and for Other Purposes). Under the RA 9211, the text- only warnings are to be in either in English or Filipino. However, the warning cigarette pack has not been updated for a decade.
Meaning, since the language used in the text-only warning was English, it has been that way ever since. They forgot to think that people in the Philippine context may or may not understand the words placed on the box. 3 out 10 Filipinos can hardly speak English, what more in understanding the English language? The language puts a limitation for people to comprehend what the warning is trying to say. So how do we change that?
There are studies saying that they’ve replaced the text-only warning into graphical images. It has been revealed that graphical images for warnings on packs have a stronger impact on educating the people about the harm that smoking can bring. It is going to scare a lot of people but it is for their own good. What better way to get the message out than through pictures. It is both effective and it communicates health messages clearly. And at least 77 countries have enacted the laws and policies for making graphical warnings to be on tobacco packs.
It originated in the US on 2011 where the Food and Drug Administration had proposed nine graphic warning labels. The proposal had a lot of complications and some of the nation’s largest tobacco companies sued to block the mandate to include warning on cigarette packs, considering that they rely on their packaging. It is their way of grabbing consumers. The government had argued that the warning went beyond factual information into anti-smoking advocacy. On the contrary, on 2009, the law passed and the smoking population fell rapidly.
Images of people suffering from stroke, emphysema, mouth cancer, gangrene, impotence, throat cancer, neck cancer, as well as premature birth and low birth-weight of babies of smoking mothers will be displayed on the cigarette pack. The warning labels were to cover the entire top half of the pack, front and back. Thus, it can motivate smokers to quit. Implementing this law means serious business. It means that smoking is not anymore a subject that can be avoided because smoking literally kills.
“The best way to stop smoking is to just stop—no ifs, ands or butts”.
Sources:
http://www.who.int/tobacco/surveillance/gats_philippines_fact_sheet.pdf?ua=1
http://web0.psa.gov.ph/content/173-million-filipino-adults-are-current-tobacco-smokers-final-results-2009-global-adult
http://www.rappler.com/brandrap/stories/75329-risk-5-smoking-related-diseases
http://www.rappler.com/nation/30368-world-no-tobacco-day-total-tobacco-ad-ban
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/4335/news/nation/3-of-10-filipinos-could-hardly-speak-english-sws
http://www.who.int/tobacco/surveillance/gats_philippines_fact_sheet.pdf?ua=1
