Australia look at plain tobacco packaging laws
A senate inquiry will examine draft laws which would see plain cigarette packaging mandated in Australia, Family First Leader Senator Steve Fielding said.
The laws would ban advertising logos or trademarks on any cigarette packets so tobacco products would only carry plain labelling dominated by health warnings.
“There is no case for allowing any glossy brand promotion for a product that is lethal and addictive,” Senator Fielding said.
“Smoking related diseases cost the Australian community over $30 billion each year.
“Family First’s plain tobacco packaging bill would take the polish off cigarette branding and the positive images the tobacco giants try to associate with their products.”
Chair of Cancer Council Australia’s tobacco issues committee, Kylie Lindorff, said Family First’s reforms to tobacco product packaging are essential to reducing the unacceptable level of cancer death and disability caused by smoking in Australia.
“It is incongruous enough that a poorly regulated product that is available from retailers almost anywhere kills more than half of its consumers,” Ms Lindorff said.
“For the products to also be marketed in glossy packets intended to convey the aspirations or sense of identity of the consumer is even more absurd.”
The Heart Foundation also strongly supports Senator Fielding’s laws because current cigarette packaging is a potent form of advertising and promotion for smoking.
“Generic plain packaging, with a clear graphic warning on the front and back of the pack, should be mandated to counter the allure of smoking and reduce the disease burden it causes,” National Heart Foundation’s tobacco control spokesperson, Maurice Swanson said
The Public Health Association of Australia says smoking is the largest single preventable cause of death and disease in Australia, with over 15,000 deaths each year.
Family First introduced its Plain Tobacco Packaging (Removing Branding from Cigarette Packs) Bill 2009 on 20 August 2009.
