http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/04/201042974128334968.html
hursday, April 29, 2010
12:52 Mecca time, 09:52 GMT
Australia overhauls cigarette packs
The move by the Australian government, scheduled for 2012, would be
a world-first [AFP]
Australia is set to ban branding, logos, promotional text and colourful images
from all packets of cigarettes in attempt to dramatically cut the number of
smokers in the country.
>From 2012, all packets of cigarettes will look almost identical, carrying
>prominent, graphic health warnings while the brand will be relegated to a
>small, generic font at the bottom.
"Cigarettes are not cool. Cigarettes kill people. Therefore, the government
makes no apology whatsoever for what it's doing," Kevin Rudd, the prime
minister, told reporters on Thursday.
"The cigarette tobacco companies will hate this measure, they will oppose it.
Nonetheless, we believe, this and other measures help to reduce smoking."
Canberra has said that it wants one million fewer Australians to smoke by 2020.
Rudd said that about 15,000 Australians die of smoking-related diseases every
year, and that tobacco use costs the country $31.5bn a year in healthcare and
lost productivity.
Price hike
The government also announced a 25 per cent hike in the tax on cigarettes from
midnight on Thursday.
"It's a lazy policy response being pushed by some health advocates"
Mick Daly, chairman of the IGA supermarket chain
Tobacco companies immediately condemned the packaging rules and vowed to
challenge them in court.
"Introducing plain packaging just takes away the ability of a consumer to
identify our brand from another brand and that's of value to us,'' Cathie
Keogh, a spokeswoman for the Imperial Tobacco company, told local radio.
"It really affects the value of our business as a commercial enterprise and we
will fight to support protecting our international property rights."
Rob Moodie, chair of the government's National Preventative Health Taskforce,
which recommended the legislation, said that stripping packages of their logos
would effectively stamp out tobacco companies' marketing campaigns.
"The thing that tobacco companies fear second after price increases is plain
packaging because it takes away their last real avenue for branding their
cigarettes,'' he said.
"It also takes away their in-store presence."
'Direct attack'
Retailers said the tax hike would hurt their businesses and bolster the
cigarette black market.
"It's a lazy policy response being pushed by some health advocates," Mick Daly,
the national chairman of Australian supermarket chain IGA, said in a statement.
"That amounts to a direct attack on approximately 16 per cent of Australians
who have made legal and legitimate lifestyle choices.''
Australia has banned tobacco advertisements from print, television and radio
for many years, but the new proposal extends restrictions to internet
advertising.
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