Portuguese opposition slams new controversial warnings on cigarette packs

Portuguese opposition parties have slammed new controversial pictorial warnings on cigarette packs which the government plans to introduce next year.

Assistant Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health, Fernando Leal de Costa, said at the opening of the debate that the measures were "reasonable" and respected the "right to choose."

But the warnings -- which show cancer tumors and amputated limbs, were referred to on Friday as "socially perverse bullying" and "shocking radicalism" by opposition parties.

"There are strategies we cannot agree with, and one of these is the use of images of disproportionate violence, consisting in socially perverse bullying," said Jose Junqueiro, from the Socialist party, adding that he disagreed with the government's plans to ban electronic cigarettes in closed spaces.

Helena Pinto, from the Left Block, referred to the new measures as "discriminatory" and said they segregated smokers.

The government coalition parties defended the new law.

"The objective is to create conditions so that everyone who smokes can have more possibility to quit smoking," said Conceicao Ruao, from the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

Isabel Galriça Neto from the CDS-PP coalition party said the images represented "merely a fleeting image of reality," adding that "delays and lukewarm messages correspond to more losses and more pain."

Canada became the first country to adopt picture-based health warnings in 2001. Over 40 countries have implemented these warnings since then, with research showing that smokers are more likely to remember health-related warnings when they are accompanied by images. Endit