Warning Pictures on Cigarette Packs
Image: Arja Lento / YLE
Mandatory pictures indicating the dangers of smoking are to be included on cigarette packages in Finland. The newspaper Kaleva writes that Social Services Minister Paula Risikko will sign a statute ordering the use of the images in the autumn.
The move is prompted by a decision from the European Commission in April 2006. The Commission has reviewed a selection of pictures of which the member states may choose which to place on cigarette packaging.
After that, the tobacco industry is expected to have a two-year transitional period before the use of the pictures will be mandatory on all cigarette packages on sale.
The pictures have already introduced the images, and the matter is under preparation in Britain. Outside Europe such pictures are in use in Thailand, Indonesia, and Canada.
YLE