Jakarta Globe, November 30, 2012
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| 'The challenge for us as a government is to make [smoking] as unappealing as possible. If we can prevent young people from taking it up, that’s a lifetime gift to them,' said Australian Health Minister Tanya Plibersek. (AFP Photo) |
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Sydney. All
cigarettes sold in Australia will be in identical, plain packages from Saturday
in a world first after the government overcame legal challenges from the
tobacco industry.
Under new
laws which come into effect on December 1, all tobacco products must be sold in
drab, olive-brown packets with expanded graphic health warnings which feature
images such as gangrenous feet and mouth cancer.
Health
Minister Tanya Plibersek said the packets, which survived a constitutional
challenge from major tobacco firms, were about making smoking less attractive.
“That’s the
aim of this exercise,” she told reporters in Sydney.
“The
challenge for us as a government is to make it [smoking] as unappealing as
possible. If we can prevent young people from taking it up, that’s a lifetime
gift to them.”
Tobacco
companies had fought the change, but the High Court rejected their argument
that the new law infringed their intellectual property rights by banning brands
and trademarks from packets.
Plibersek
said tobacco companies had reported no changes to their products, but there was
a possible psychological effect of the new packages making them less attractive
to some people.
“I have had
a few letters... with smokers saying to me, ‘Oh the cigarettes don’t taste the
same as they used to’,” she said.
The
minister said after World War II about 50 percent of Australians smoked but
this had now dropped to 15 percent and the government was aiming to push it
down to 10 percent by 2018.
The new
legislation comes into force as a study conducted for the Cancer Council of
Victoria found that one-in-four smokers believe the effects of tobacco on
health are exaggerated.
The
research looked at the impact of Australia’s health warnings on cigarette
packages, which for years have included graphic images depicting health issues
arising from smoking.
Its study
of 4,500 smokers in Victoria state from 2003 to 2011 found that about a quarter
still believed the dangers of smoking had been exaggerated and one in 10 did
not believe or were not sure that smoking caused illness.
“From
tomorrow, the outside of cigarette packaging will finally reflect the ugliness
of what’s inside and leave no smoker in any doubt of how deadly cigarettes
are,” Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkie said.
Sharkie
said the graphic health warnings had already made a difference.
“While the
main intent of plain packaging is to reduce the appeal of smoking among youth,
we’ve already had several calls... from smokers who say the graphic health
warnings have pushed them to quit,” she said.
Smoking is
one of the leading causes of preventable death and disease in Australians,
killing an estimated 15,000 every year.
Agence France-Presse
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