About BAMA
SACKI Warning
In 1995, the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs reported specifically on VSA to the UK Government and its report included several recommendations to industry.
The VSA Industry Forum was formed, comprising all affected industries, to share information and understanding of the problem, increase awareness and to consider ways of reducing the number of deaths. A key requirement was to consider whether labelling would be appropriate and as a result a major research project was undertaken by the Department of Trade and Industry Consumer Safety Unit. There was a strong response from consumers that a new clear warning was required and the Industry Forum recommended that each industry should draw up guidance for its sector on how to apply the voluntary warning which was found to be most effective.
The aim is to have all abusable products labelled with the same or similar warning where appropriate.
After careful consideration, BAMA recommended that all aerosols should be labelled on the back. Because there is no information on a fatal dose or the effect of mixing products, this is designed to be a general warning about the risks of solvent abuse. It should be on all aerosol packs and not just those considered to have the potential to be abused.
BAMA remains committed to supporting education programmes which it believes are vital to give accurate information on the risks of VSA and to bring about changes in attitude and behaviour in order to tackle this problem seriously.
BAMA recommends that the phrase Solvent Abuse Can Kill Instantly in the badge format shown in Figure 2 should be applied to the back of all aerosols sold in the UK together with the phrase Use only as directed.
The phrase Solvent Abuse Can Kill Instantly ('SACKI') in the badge format shown below should be applied to the back of all aerosols:
Artwork is available from BAMA, please email enquiries@bama.co.uk.
Artwork guidelines
The warning should be 1.3 cm wide and 1.0 cm high for fills up to 200 ml and 1.66 cm wide and 1.28 cm high for larger fills.
The warning should be on the back of the pack, preferably away from the statutory warning panel. The colour of the warning can be the same colour as the other text but should be clear and legible. If the pack is multilingual or space is not available, the wording can be placed in a box rather than the badge format so it can be distinguished from other statutory warnings.
The badge should be accompanied by the phrase Use only as directed.
The warning is UK specific and is not directly applicable to other countries. For multilingual packs it is recommended that the SACKI warning be included in the English text and the following warning, Use only as directed. Intentional misuse by deliberately concentrating and inhaling contents can be harmful or fatal be translated into any other languages used on the pack.