Cabinet paper on plain packaging for tobacco products to be submitted soon  

By Chathuri Dissanayake

The Health Ministry yesterday said that regulations on plain packaging for tobacco products, modelled after the policies followed by Australia, would be introduced in the near future following consultations with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Director General of Health Services, Dr. Palitha Mahipala, said that the Ministry aimed to introduce plain packaging, with a uniform colour to cover space not covered by pictorial warnings, for all brands. The Ministry has already prepared the Cabinet paper on the matter, he said.

 “The Ministry held consultations with two legal experts from the World Health Organization last week to prepare the regulations and this will be introduced soon,” he said.

Dr. Mahipala said that in Sri Lanka 20,000 people died each year of diseases related to smoking, with 57 people dying every day.

“We plan to take very strong action regarding the issue. The President also plans to stop growing tobacco in the country by 2020, along with a host of other measures to fight the issue,” he revealed.

Furthermore, he claimed that measures would be taken to curb the practice of selling individual cigarettes from a pack, which is quite common across the country.