Graphic warnings set for Indonesia packs

Manufacturers will be required to include graphic health warnings on cigarette packs sold in Indonesia from June 24, according to a story in The Jakarta Post quoting en.tempo.co.

The Indonesia pack coordinator with the Southeast Asia Initiative on Tobacco Tax, Widyastuti Soerojo, was quoted as saying the Health Ministry had prepared five pictures that manufacturers would have to use.

She said the pictorial warnings depicted, among other things, oral and lung cancer.

“Hopefully, this will also be effective in reducing the number of smokers in Indonesia, which has continued to increase,” Widyastuti said.

Indonesia is due to become the fifth ASEAN member country, after Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei, to require graphic warnings on tobacco packaging.