From April 2009 on boxes of tobacco products will be described horrible pictograms instead of colorful pictures. Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of Kirgizia Mr. Madamin Karataev told about it on a press conference. Based on his words the article 11 “Requirements to packing and marking tobacco products” of the Law of the Republic of Kirgizia on “Protection of health of citizen of the Republic of Kirgizia from harmful impact of tobacco” will start to come to force from 1st of April 2009. According to that article each box and pack of tobacco product should consist of a medical precaution which covers at least 50 % of the main surface of both sides of the box in a form of text, picture or pictogram. Davamı →

An international meeting on waste management has begun in Bali, Indonesia, to highlight the risks of hazardous waste. Ministers from nearly 170 countries will be considering setting up a new body on electronic and computer waste. The five-day meeting is expected to focus on the impacts of hazardous waste on human health and livelihoods. It will also look at the disposal of massive amounts of electronic waste such as old mobile phones. Davamı →

TOKYO (Reuters) – Cigarette vending machines in Japan may soon start counting wrinkles, crow’s feet and skin sags to see if the customer is old enough to smoke.
The legal age for smoking in Japan is 20 and as the country’s 570,000 tobacco vending machines prepare for a July regulation requiring them to ensure buyers are not underage, a company has developed a system to identify age by studying facial features.
By having the customer look into a digital camera attached to the machine, Fujitaka Co’s system will compare facial characteristics, such as wrinkles surrounding the eyes, bone structure and skin sags, to the facial data of over 100,000 people, Hajime Yamamoto, a company spokesman said. Davamı →