Thailand Green Lights Larger Warning Labels on Cigarettes

A Thai vendor waits for customers near a case displaying packs of cigarettes on Friday, June 27, 2014. A new regulation now requires that these packs be 85 per cent covered by health warnings. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

BANGKOK – A court in Thailand has given the go-ahead to a new regulation requiring packs of cigarettes sold in the Southeast Asian country to be 85 per cent covered with graphic health warnings.

Public Health Ministry executive Dr. Nopporn Cheanklin said Friday that the change will take effect in September.

Currently, warnings illustrating the dangers of smoking must cover 55 per cent of each pack of cigarettes sold in Thailand. Last year, the health ministry issued a regulation increasing the level of coverage to 85 per cent. Tobacco giant Philip Morris and more than 1,400 Thai retailers sued, and a court temporarily suspended the order. On Friday, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the regulation can take effect