Sunday, 22 November 2009Turkey will start warning smokers both in written and visual on packages as of 2010.
The chairman of the Turkish Tobacco & Alcohol Market Regulation Board (TAPDK) said on Sunday that the board would start warning smokers in written and visual as of January 1, 2010.
"Besides written warnings, there will be 14 pictures on the cigarette and other tobacco product packages," chairman Mehmet Kucuk told AA correspondent. Kucuk said the board would try to draw attention to the harms of cigarettes with this method.
There are actually 180 different types of cigarette packages in Turkey. All the packages will be changed with the visual warning system. The tobacco companies will renew their written and visual warning in certain periods.
The cigarette packages produced till December 31, 2009 which only include written warnings can be put into market till June 30, 2010.
Both visual and written warnings shall cover 65 percent of the cigarette packages. There will not be any cigarette packages without visual warnings in Turkey as of January 1, 2011.
Visual warning on cigarette packages is a system actually used in countries including Britain, Belgium, Romania, Brazil, Thailand and Singapore.
The European Union (EU) has 42 sample pictures for visual warning on tobacco products. Turkey is preparing to choose 14 of these pictures.
Researches indicate that visual warning has 20 percent effect on people who want to quit smoking.
Turkey banned smoking on public transportation and in workplaces and malls in May 2008. It gave extra time to restaurants, bars and cafes to bring themselves in compliance with the smoking ban law.
Expanded smoking ban went into effect across Turkey on June 19, 2009.Accordingly, it is illegal to smoke in coffeehouses, cafeterias, pubs, narghile-smoking places, clubs of associations and foundations, restaurants, taxis, mass transportation vehicles of highway, railway, seaway and airway.
Under the new law, making advertisement and promotion of tobacco products as well as names and brands of producer companies is forbidden too.
Turkey became the seventh country in the European continent which bans smoking in all enclosed public places.
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Sunday, 22 November 2009
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