Anti-smoking group files suit to promote graphic warnings on cigarette packs

MANILA, Philippines - An anti-smoking group has asked the Makati regional trial court to clarify the authority of the Department of Health (DOH) to issue an administrative order to promote people’s right to health information.

DOH administrative order 2010-0013 requires tobacco manufacturers to include graphic health information on the contents and harmful effects of tobacco products on cigarette packs.

It also prohibits tobacco manufacturers from using misleading descriptors on cigarettes like “mild, light,” “ultra-light” and “low tar.”

The petitioners, led by former health secretary Juan Flavier and running priest Fr. Robert Reyes, want the Makati court to issue a “clarificatory judgment” on Section 13(g) of the Tobacco Regulation Act (Republic Act 7394) in relation to the administrative order, the international treaty Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its guidelines.

The petitioners said RA 7394 requires cigarette packages to bear warnings about the hazards of the product to people’s health.

Reyes said his brother, Vincent, died of lung cancer at the age of 47 in December 2004 due to smoking. “Vincent started smoking at the age 14 and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2000,” he said. “A few months before his death, Vincent filed a complaint for damages against Philip Morris, which case has been mired in litigation up to the present.

“Vincent’s wife, Helen Rose and his children Paolo Christian and Miguel Christian substituted for Vincent in the case.”

Reyes said he witnessed how his brother battled a tobacco-related disease and eventually died as a result of “false and deceptive information about the harmful nature of tobacco compounded by the devious marketing practices of tobacco firms.”

The lawsuit named as respondents the DOH, Fortune Tobacco Corp., Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc., PMFTC, Inc., Telengtan Brothers and Sons, Inc. doing business under the Name and Style La Suerte Cigar and Corp., Tobacco Co., JT International (Philippines), American Tobacco (Philippines) Ltd., Associated Anglo American Tobacco Corp., Imperial Tobacco Corp., La Campana Fabrica De Tabaccos, Inc., Tabaqueria de Filipinas, Inc., Capital Tobacco Corp., Sterling Tobacco Corp. and the Philippine Tobacco Institute.

Representing the petitioners was the University of the Philippines-Office of Legal Aid.

Last month, the Parañaque regional trial court junked a petition by two tobacco firms to stop the DOH from implementing the administrative order on the graphic health warnings.