Consultation on tobacco packaging

The Smokefree Action Coalition – a group of 192 health and welfare organisations working together to make smoking history for our children - has welcomed the launch today of the Government’s consultation on tobacco packaging.

Putting tobacco products in plain packaging is essential because tobacco packs are now the major promotional tool for the tobacco industry. And it is children who take up smoking: two-thirds of smokers start before the age of 18.

Also there is good evidence that plain, standardised packs are:

• Less attractive, particularly to young people
• Make the health warnings stand out more
• Reduce the ability of the packaging to mislead consumers about the harms of smoking.

There is already widespread public support for requiring tobacco to be sold in plain standardised packaging with the product name in standard lettering, that is, in packs similar to those that will be required in Australia from December this year. A recent poll showing an example of a plain pack found that in the North West overall 62% of adults supported this while just 10% opposed the measure.

Andrea Crossfield, Director of Tobacco Free Futures in the North West said:

“Smoking is a childhood addiction. In the North West a phenomenal 4 out of 5 children who try smoking do so before they are 14 years old. 81 per cent of young people also think that the Government should do more to tackle smoking.

“The tobacco industry spends a lot of time and money targeting young people because they have potential to be customers for life. The introduction of plain, standardised packaging would mean a victory for our children and a defeat for the tobacco industry.

“We want people to support the introduction of plain, standardised packaging for tobacco products as a measure to prevent children and young people from taking up smoking, and a lifetime of addiction.”

“I urge everyone to tell the government that they support this measure to help to turn off the tap of new smokers, through responding to the consultation at www.tobaccofreefutures.org and help make smoking history for children.”

Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of ASH, said: "If we are to succeed in making smoking history for our children then plain packaging is the obvious next step now advertising promotion and sponsorship are banned and tobacco displays in shops are on the way out. Cigarettes are not like sweets or toys and should not be sold in fancy colourful packaging to make them appealing to children. Cigarettes are full of toxins and cause fatal diseases: plain, standardised packaging will make this explicit."