TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsOnly 13.44% cigarette brands bear pictorial warnings: BPOM
The Drug and Food Monitoring Agency (BPOM) says only 13
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
T
he Drug and Food Monitoring Agency (BPOM) says only 13.44 percent of cigarette packages circulating in the market bear pictorial warnings, which became mandatory as from June 24.
'We have sent a warning letter to cigarette companies that have not yet included the pictorial health warning on their products and asked them to immediately include it on the packaging,' said BPOM chairman Roy Sparringa in Jakarta on Thursday as quoted by Antara news agency.
The BPOM and regional food and drug offices (BBPOM) in 31 regions conducted two days of monitoring of the implementation of Government Regulation (PP) No.109/2012 on tobacco control, which took effect on Tuesday.
Of the 2,270 cigarette packages monitored, only 305 or 13.44 percent had pictorial warnings.
There are 3,363 cigarette brands produced by 672 companies registered with the Customs and Excise Directorate.
'The BPOM has a mandate to give both verbal and written warnings, to withdraw products from the market, to temporary stop production activities and to issue recommendations for other action,' said Roy.
The regulation also stipulates requirements for manufacturers to report the inclusion of health warnings and information on tobacco product packages to the authorities, along with samples of the packages. They also must report results of laboratory tests on nicotine and tar levels on their products.
As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, the BPOM received pictorial warning reports from only 72 companies producing 448 cigarette brands and nicotine and tar lab test results from 108 companies producing 666 brands.
'We have sent warning letters to the 600 companies that have yet to submit their reports as well as to distributors that market cigarette products without pictorial warnings,' said Roy. (fss/ebf)
