Thailand currently has the most draconian anti-tobacco laws in Asia and was amongst the first to adopt both the display ban and the graphic warning. The effect has been the uglification of everyday life in the name of public health. We Brits have already seen graphic warnings on cigarette packs hit our shores and the display ban may or may be winding its devious way towards us (see last post).
Meanwhile, Thailand is motoring ahead and now plans to put graphic warnings on alcohol.
Thailand is pressing ahead with its plan to force alcohol manufacturers to carry graphic picture warnings on the bottle after the policy was cleared of trade barrier concerns by World Trade Organisation members.
Here are some of the charming images under consideration (they will have to cover at least 30% of the can or bottle)...
The slogans read (clockwise from top left): 'Drinking alcohol causes hypertension and liver cirrhosis', 'Drunk driving causes disability or death', 'Drinking alcohol leads to unconsciousness and even death', 'Drinking alcohol leads to adverse health effects and family problems'.
And why not? Once we accept that one hazardous product must be adorned with photographs of death and disease, what's stopping us doing it to them all?
Therein lies the simplistic beauty and the hideous logic of the slippery slope. And food will be next.
How utterly bizarre. lt didn't work on UK ciggies so why do they expect this to work?
ReplyDeleteHere are some further “logical” steps in the smoking/smoker “problem”.
ReplyDeleteThe city of Sebastopol will consider revisions to its smoking ordinance Tuesday that would make it one of the toughest in the Bay Area, extending a smoke-free umbrella to apartment dwellers.
“We already don't permit smoking in public parks and playgrounds and what-have-you,” said City Manager Jack Griffin. “This ordinance is not all that much different, but it adds a whole new dimension of multi-family dwellings.”
….“The issue is second-hand smoke, the view that particularly in many cases the ventilation systems are not stand-alone per unit, the issue of the ability of smoke to travel from unit to unit,” Griffin said.
….“If you have a smoker and they move out, you have to replace the carpet, you have to replace the pad; it is really expensive,” Harris said. “I have no problem saying ‘no smoking.' ”
….Under local and state laws, smoking in Sebastopol already is prohibited in workplaces, public areas such as parks, retails stores, restaurants and bars and in the common areas in apartment buildings. Smoking is restricted in hotels in the city.
About the only places left for smokers are single-family homes, yards and cars. Smoking is allowed while walking down the street, but the smoker must keep moving, Griffin said.
Under the proposed revisions, landlords would be required to write no-smoking restrictions into all new leases. There is a 14-month grace period for existing renters.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100718/articles/100719611&tc=yahoo
"Thailand currently has the most draconian anti-tobacco laws in Asia... "
ReplyDeleteExcept Bhutan, which virtually banned tobacco outright at the end of 2004. Tourists may smoke their own but can be charged with smuggling if they sell any to locals. Locals can technically smoke inside their own homes if they don't mind paying customs duties and taxes of 200% or so in order to get small quantities of tobacco.
Thailand's human rights abuses:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hrw.org/en/node/87403
"On August 28 government critic Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul (also known as Da Torpedo) was sentenced to 18 years in prison for insulting the monarchy in her speeches at a UDD rally."
"Abhisit supported the reopening of investigations into the 2,819 extrajudicial killings that allegedly accompanied Thaksin's "war on drugs" in 2003. Facing strong resistance from the Royal Thai Police, which was implicated in many of these killings, slow progress has been made to bring perpetrators to justice and end systematic police brutality and abuse of power in drug suppression operations."
"The government responded to a surge in drug sales and use by resuming executions of convicted traffickers, after a six-year hiatus. Bundit Jaroenwanit and Jirawat Poompreuk, convicted in March 2001, were executed by lethal injection on August 24, 2009. TV news reported their execution minute-by-minute in reality show style."
There should be graphic warnings about the politics of the elite, never mind warnings on bottles of booze. We should plaster images of death above every politicians' head.
Also, all them slogans are incorrect.
ReplyDeleteThey should read drinking COULD cause ./....../. if abused heavily over a long period of time.
Also, all them slogans are incorrect.
ReplyDeleteThey should read drinking COULD cause ./....../. if abused heavily over a long period of time.
Bucko, they’ve learnt this from Tobacco Control (i.e., antismoking). Reasonable statistical statements do not serve the “anti” (eugenics) agenda. Only absolute, although inaccurate/misleading, statements should be used. Such erroneous statements (i.e, propaganda) serve the eradication program.
Working Papers in Support of the 8th World Conference on Tobacco or Health: Building a Tobacco-Free World
March 30 - April 3, 1992
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Use strong direct wording such as
Smoking kills
Smoking is addictive
Smoking causes lung cancer
Smoking causes heart disease
Smoking damages your lungs
Smoking harms the fetus
Smoking hurts your children
Don't use statements that condone any
form of smoking, imply only a chance
of contracting disease, or attribute the
statement to a third party . Don't use :
"Don't smoke too much for health's sake . "
"Smoking may cause
"According to the government . . . . . "
(p.14)
Consider skull and crossbones or other
strong visual displays .
(p.15)
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/hoc28a99
Anon1 - So basically they are told to lie.
ReplyDeleteThere was an anti smoking ad on local radio a few months ago, aimed at partners of pregnant women.
A chap said "every cigarette harms your baby".
Complete scaremongering rubbish with nothing to back it up.