Support for Cigarette Plain Packaging

Source from:  news.com.au August 28, 2006 09:43pm 08/29/2006

HALF of Victorian adults support plain packaging for cigarettes, a new study has revealed. The survey of 3000 Victorian adults shows 51 per cent of men and 53 per cent of women support the initiative. The anti-smoking lobby is pushing for plain packaging for cigarettes to reduce their appeal to consumers. The study, by the Cancer Council for Victoria, also shows that almost twice as many daily smokers approve of plain packaging for cigarettes rather than disapprove of it. Only one in four Victorian adults disapprove of plain packaging, while almost a third of daily smokers neither approve nor disapprove. Todd Harper, executive director of Quit, a charity that helps people stop smoking, said the tobacco industry was becoming increasingly dependent on packaging as a way to recruit a new generation of smokers and communicate with current customers. "The only way to stamp out aggressive tobacco industry tactics, using the pack as the primary method of promoting their deadly product, is to force the tobacco industry to adopt plain packaging. "There is no excuse for using evocative words, numbers or colours on the cigarette pack to undermine the stark reality that tobacco is a product that will eventually kill up to two out of three lifetime users." Mr Harper said Imperial Tobacco had just released a pack of Peter Stuyvesant that displayed the words "easy draw - more flavour - more satisfaction". This follows the release of Winfield packaging that displayed the phrase "... anyhow, have a Winfield" on the flipside of the packet's lid. "It is incredibly disappointing that any company would attempt to dilute the new graphic health warnings by putting a message that is promoting smoking on a cigarette pack." Enditem