New ASOG study reveals weak compliance with graphic health warning law, gaps in tobacco governance in PH

The Tobacco Control and Governance team of Ateneo School of Government, through the Ateneo Policy Center, recently published a study entitled “Assessing Industry Compliance With The Graphic Health Warnings Law In The Philippines: Challenges In Multisectoral Tobacco Governance” in the international peer-reviewed journal BMJ Journals Tobacco Control. The authors include Program Manager Alen Santiago, Non-Resident Research Fellow Dr Gayle Amul, Project Coordinator Sam Ackary, and former Research & Project Assistant Patrik Cabrera.

In this study, the authors collected 109 tobacco products across the Philippines to examine and assess compliance with Republic Act 10643 or the 2014 Graphic Health Warnings (GHW) Law. The GHW Law is the governing policy on the affixation of GHWs on tobacco products to promote the right to health and information against the harmful effects of tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

The authors reported that out of 96 eligible tobacco products out of 109 tobacco products, only six products or 6.19% of the sample were fully compliant with the GHW Law. This highlights an extremely low compliance with the GHW Law, and indicates several gaps in the implementation and enforcement of the policy. Other key findings, such as the presence of illicit tobacco products, point to a stronger need for stricter monitoring and compliance measures.

The Department of Health supported this paper for the advancement of the National Tobacco Prevention and Control Strategy 2030.

View the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1136/tc-2024-058973