Seeing may be believing

Jeanie McKenzie
You sometimes hear people say they’ve known friends and relatives who have smoked for years without suffering any harm.

Often smokers themselves choose to believe there are no harms associated with smoking and that the dangers are a myth dreamed up by tobacco control activists intent on spoiling one of their main pleasures.

Most smokers know that cigarettes are doing them damage, but one thing that really makes an impact is to actually see pictures of the harm that smoking can do.

Smoking causes many diseases other than lung cancer, yet smokers often still don’t fully understand all the health risks.

The new graphic warnings cover a range of conditions from lung cancer, mouth cancer, gangrenous feet caused by peripheral vascular disease, lungs affected by emphysema, clogged arteries and impotence to effects on unborn children, and will play an essential part in communicating the health risks associated with smoking.

Whilst information on smoking rates is not available for all Pacific countries, where data is available it shows high daily tobacco consumption levels (see Table One).

The use of graphic warnings on cigarette packets has been adopted in several countries and is increasingly being seen in the Pacific as one strategy to reduce smoking.

More than 80 percent of cancers of the mouth, nose and throat occur in people who smoke cigarettes, cigars or pipes. The more they smoke and the longer they smoke for, the higher their risk.

The warnings are most effective when they are prominent on the pack, provide specific information, evoke an emotional response and are changed regularly.

Pictures can be understood by everyone without having to read any text. In contrast, written health warnings such as ‘Smoking is addictive’ and ‘Smoking kills, are often just not recalled by smokers.

Some people find the images very graphic indeed. You might choose not to look, but images such as those below are going to be increasingly seen on tobacco products in the Pacific.

Whatever you might feel about the images, research around the world where they have been introduced shows an increase in motivation to quit, resulting in more people calling quit lines and expressing intentions to stop smoking.

Combining the warnings with information about where to go to seek help makes smokers more confident about quitting.

In some countries, cigarette packets include inserts with information about quitting.

With extremely high smoking rates in some Pacific countries and an increasing burden of diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease, it’s definitely time to act on this issue.

They might be disturbing, but graphic warning labels can play a role in prompting people to quit smoking and educating them  about the health effects of smoking.

Among the enormous benefits of reducing smoking rates are lower health care costs and hospitalisations. Even a modest decrease in smoking could result in substantial cost savings.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has a Health Pacific Lifestyle Section, currently employing three staff working on prevention and control of non communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. The Tobacco Control Adviser assists Pacific countries to develop and implement their tobacco control programmes.

This will include advocating for smoke-free public places, real and regular increases in the price of tobacco, as well as pictorial health warnings.

• Jeanie McKenzie is the Tobacco Control Adviser of the SPC Healthy Pacific Lifestyle Section and can be reached at JeanieM@spc.int.