BAGUIO CITY – The Department of health (DOH) and veteran law practitioners are pushing for the immediate passage of pending bills in Congress for the placement of the front of pocket warning label in all products to serve as a guide for consumers on the sugar, salt, calories, fats among others of the items the public intend to purchase from business establishments around the country.
Lawyer Mikhail Laurence Millan, a law practitioner from the Imagine Law Center, said that there are five pending bills that had been filed in the House bil Rep. Reynolds Michael Tan, Rep. Alfredo delos Santos, rep. Alana Samantha Santos, Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas and Rep. maria Rachel Arenas mandating the placement of the front of pocket warning label in all products being sold in the country while Senator Riza Hontiveros filed the counterpart bill in the Senate.
He added that the bills in the house are se to be subjected to a joint committee hearing of the House committees on health and trade while the proposal in the Senate has been referred to the Senate committee on health for the conduct of the necessary consultations with the concerned stakeholders.
The lawyer underscored the importance of the front of pocket warning label because consumers could easily red the ingredients and the volume of each of the components of the products that are displayed in the various business establishments, especially their nutrition contents to guide them on whether or not the buy the said products and for them to understand and easily grasp that the items they are purchasing might be good or bad to the health of the members of their families.
Further, he claimed that consumers could easily read the contents of the products with the front of pocket warning label compared to the present back pocket label where the list of ingredients and the nutritional value of the product has been written.
According to him, the front of pocket warning label serves as a clear warning for consumers for them to easily understand on what are the nutrition facts contained in the packaging of products.
The lawyer explained that once consumers can read the front of pocket warning label like high in sugar, high in sodium, high in calories, high in fats among others, they will be easily guided on whether or not they will purchase the said products because of their potential effects to their health and that of the members of their families.
Earlier, health experts have time and again warned the public on the negative effects of high sugar, high salt, high in fats, high calories among others which will result to the possibility of high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension among other similar lifestyle diseases that will definitely compromise their health condition.
Moreover, people have been advised to get rid of the said ingredients of products but instead embrace a healthy lifestyle by eating nutritious food, having sufficient physical activities and having enough sleep for them to avoid contracting the said illnesses.
The front of pocket warning label is currently being implemented in 32 countries around the world with different dimensions which the Philippine government could replicate once Congress will pass the pending bills mandating the placement of the said label in all products being sold around the country. By Dexter A. See
