Deadline nears for Indonesian health warnings

Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (FDMA) has told tobacco companies to comply with a government regulation requiring pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs by June 24, reports The Jakarta Post.

Indonesian tobacco companies produced 3,392 cigarette brands as of April, according to Indonesia’s taxation directorate general. Of those companies, only Bentoel, Sampoerna, Djarum and Gudang Garam had registered their cigarette packaging designs with pictorial health warnings, said Sri Utami Ekaningtyas, the FDMA’s addictive substances monitoring director.

“They have sent their pictorial health warnings and shown a commitment to launch these cigarette packs on 24 June. We are optimistic that other companies will follow,” Sri added.

According to the government regulation, tobacco companies should print five pictorial health warnings on their cigarette packs, covering at least 40 percent of a pack’s overall size.

These warnings show scary images of tobacco-related diseases such as mouth cancer, throat cancer and lung cancer.