Nass Tasked On New Tobacco Bill  

JUST as the World Health Organization (WHO) last week urged governments to require that all tobacco packages include pictorial warnings to show the sickness and suffering caused by tobacco use, a call has been made to the members of the National Assembly to urgently pass the new tobacco bill standing before the senate with a view to persuade tobacco companies in Nigeria to start putting pictorial and graphical health warnings on their packages as it is done in other countries of the world.Making this call at a seminar organised by the Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF) on the 2009 World No Tobacco Day in Lagos, President of NHF, Engr. Oluyomi Adeyemi-Wilson regretted that tobacco companies in Nigeria have not been putting pictorial and graphical health warnings on their packages as it is done in countries like Canada, India, Singapore amongst others.

Stating that the theme of this year's celebration was "Tobacco Health Warnings," he explained that health warnings on tobacco product packaging are critical to any effective tobacco control strategy.

Jump to full article »