In a statement released 5 February, SEATCA exposed how Imperial-controlled Lao Tobacco Company Ltd. and Lao-China Hongta Good Luck Tobacco Company are violating Lao PDR’s Pictorial Health Warnings (PHWs) Regulation. 

Based on monitoring done by SEATCA in Vientiane Capital City in January and early February, cigarette packs from both companies still do not carry the required PHWs even after the Lao government already granted three extensions of the implementation deadline or 19 months in total to comply. 

SEATCA called on both companies to respect the Lao people by complying with the law to print 75% health warnings on cigarette packs immediately and urged Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and his government to take action to compel these violators to comply. 

More than 73,000 adolescents and half of all men smoke in Lao PDR.

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