Sri Lanka to introduce plain packing of tobacco products:

Sri Lanka is mooting introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products that prohibits use of logos, colours and brand images, its President Maithripala Sirisena said here today and stressed on the need to think "seriously" about the growing menace of smokeless tobacco in the region.
Delivering a special address at the inaugural session of the7th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP7) to World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), he said his country has beenaddressing the tobacco issue in numerous other ways, including by adopting strict laws.
He said he was grateful to his "good friend" Prime Minister Narendra Modi for showing commitment on the subject of tobacco control by hosting the conference.

"My minister of health is proposing to introduce plain packaging which is another important measure in the near future. We thank FCTC for the excellent technical support," he said in his address.
He said that in line with FCTC, Sri Lanka has set up a National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol.
The Sri Lankan President, who arrived in India yesterday, said that his country has accepted various recommendations from FCTC and is one of the first countries in South East Asian region to sign and ratify it.

"Since I assumed the President's office, tobacco and alcohol control has been on top of my national agenda. I have set up a presidential task force to monitor situation related to drugs and narcotics," he said.

"I should be grateful to my good friend Narendra Modi for their commitment to the subject of this conference," he said.
He said that Sri Lanka has immensely benefited from the information that WHO FCTC has generated over these years in framing its policies and regulations for tobacco control.
"We are also addressing the tobacco issue in numerous other ways, by having adopted strict laws including banning smoking in public spaces, prohibiting advertisement of tobacco," he said.
The president said his country recently reviewed tobacco taxation and increased it by 10 per cent and that his government's adoption of strict anti-tobacco laws have shown encouraging results in curbing the tobacco usage in the young and adult population.

He also highlighted the growing menace of smokeless tobacco in Sri Lanka and the neighbouring region.
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Sirisena said that Sri Lanka completed the global youth tobacco survey earlier this year and learned that the prevalence of tobacco use and smoking among youth has shown significant downward trend since last survey.
"We are hoping that together with you (WHO FCTC) Sri Lanka will be able to image as one of the emerging economies that successfully tobacco as a complete health problem," he said.
Noting that after becoming President, he urged his Minister of Health to bring a new act in Parliament to increase pictorial warning to 80 per cent. "Finally we could achieve it," he said.

Noting that the tobacco industry often distorts and challenges the best scientific knowledge, he said that it tries to influence policy makers in many ways.
"This to me is a direct interference with the internal policy matters of any country. We need not have any compromise of any kind with the tobacco industry," he said.
He said that another issue which we have to guard is the illicit trade of tobacco products and said that it can be a serious threat to public health and national tobacco control policy.
Noting that the Sri Lankan population is already at an advance stage of ageing and disease transition, he said that non communicable diseases (NCDs) are now the largest contributers of disease burden in the country.

"My government is leading the nation wide effort to address the problem of NCD. The central theme of our NCD programme is health promotion and creation," he said.
Sirisena said that while looking at improving the health and well being of our people, the government is also keeping in mind its wider obligation in the SDG agenda.
"Two weeks back, we organised an international round table
on role of sustainable consumption and production in climate change mitigation.
"Sri Lanka renewable energy project has contributed to the reduction of almost 3,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas annually since 2014 through the dissemination of biogas system. My government has the target of increasing the share of renewable energy," he said.

India is hosting the conference for the first time where around 1,500 delegates are participating from around 180 countries along with other observers in official relations with the WHO FCTC Secretariat in Geneva.
The WHO FCTC is the first global evidence-based public health treaty that recognises the right of all people to the highest standard of health.