News Summary: Tobacco sellers to fight Thai rule
Tobacco retailers to sue Thai health ministry over rule on extra-large cigarette pack warnings
SMOKE SUIT: Tobacco giant Philip Morris and more than 1,400 Thai retailers will sue Thailand's health ministry over a rule that would nearly cover cigarette packets with smoking warnings, a tobacco trade representative said Wednesday.
THE BACKGROUND: The regulation scheduled to take effect Oct. 2 requires that 85 percent of space on the packets' front and back be dedicated to warning messages and images, some containing graphic pictures of lung cancer patients.
BIG PICTURE(S): Thailand and Australia are among the countries with the largest anti-smoking pictorial health warnings in the world. Australia also bans cigarette companies' logos and colors.
