The council of ministers has approved a sub-decree that will require health warnings to be printed on the outside of cigarette packages.

Under the presidency of Prime Minister Hun Sen, the council released a statement saying that the purpose of these warnings will be “to educate people, especially children and housewives about the consequences of smoking, and to counter any deceiving advertisements from tobacco companies”. The sub-decree was created by the ministry of health in pursuance of the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an agreement ratified by 166 countries including Cambodia. Lim Thai Pheang, director of the National Centre for Health Promotion, said that the ministry of health’s sub-decree had originally called for anti-smoking photos to be printed on packaging in addition to warning messages, but that the council of ministers requested that the warnings be text-only. (sra)