ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: The Ministry of Health has repealed the 'Cigarette (Printing of Health Warning) Rules, 1982' and now the new warning will be prominently printed on the front and back sides of cigarette packs.

The ministry has also changed the wordings of the warning, making it more elaborate and informative for the general public. The statutory regulatory order (SRO) issued by the federal health ministry and published in the Gazette of Pakistan (Extraordinary) on January 16, 2004, said the warning had come into force on all cigarette-related advertisements on TV, radio and press from November 24, 2003.

The SRO issued by the health ministry said the new warning should be changed from the existing 'Warning: Smoking is injurious to health - Ministry of Health' to 'Warning: Smoking causes cancer and heart diseases - Ministry of Health'.

Specifying the dimensions of the warning, the SRO said the new health warning should be printed on the front side of the flap (top) of the cigarette pack in Urdu and on the back side in English and it should cover at least 30 per cent of the pack on each side in rectangular box.

The health ministry also clearly specified that the size of the fonts height should be a minimum of 4mm on packs of 20s and 3mm for packs of 10s and Helvetica condensed should be used with an outline of the box in 1.2 point.

The ministry said the warning should be printed in red colour on white background on packets in which red colour is used for designing purpose. In case of other packets, the warning should be printed on white background in the most prominent colour.

The SRO said all other tobacco or tobacco products advertisements would devote at least 20 per cent of the space and/or time for the health warning in Urdu in conspicuous and legible way. Warning in English will be optional, the SRO said.