Gruesome pictures of death and decay will greet smokers in Singapore from Aug. 1, when a law takes effect requiring cigarette packs to carry graphic warnings in color, in the hope of discouraging people from smoking.
Images such as a mouthful of rotten teeth, diseased organs, a limp baby and a smoker on his deathbed will cover half of each pack, a spokeswoman for the Health Promotion Board said on Tuesday.
Written health warnings will accompany the pictures.
The new law, passed by Parliament last year, follows a long standing effort by the government to promote a smoke-free lifestyle in the city state, where authorities say there are seven tobacco-related deaths each day.
“Smokers already know the harmful effects of smoking,” said customer care executive Agnes Chin, 25, a smoker for seven years.
“Nothing on the box will stop us if we really want to smoke,” she said, adding the pictures would not bother her and she had no intention of quitting.
Singapore already bans smoking in public transport, elevators, theatres, government offices, and air-conditioned restaurants and shopping centers. The ban also applies to lines of more than two people, such as at a taxi stand.
Cigarette prices have risen regularly, tobacco advertisements have been banned since the 1970s and more recently, government officials lifted a 12-year ban on chewing gum to allow the sale of nicotine gum -- to help smokers quit.
Canada and Brazil currently use shock graphic warnings and a report in the Straits Times newspaper said tobacco use has fallen 3.4 percent in Canada.
Official statistics say the number of smokers is steadily falling, from 20 percent of Singapore’s population in 1984 to 14 percent in 2001. But the numbers of young female smokers are on the rise.
The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco causes 5 million deaths each year. “If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2025,” the WHO Web site says.