Press
Release
Non-Smokers’ Rights Association
Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
April 29, 2010
Canada should join Australia and ban ads on tobacco
packaging
Plain and standardized packaging of cigarettes
would dismantle the 'last billboards' for tobacco
Canadian health groups reacted with both praise and
disappointment to the news that the Australian
government will require cigarettes to be sold in plain
packages beginning January 2012.
“We are thrilled that a respected
country such as Australia understands that the tobacco
package is a critical source of tobacco advertising and
is ending the tobacco companies’ use of
packaging to recruit youth
to a life of tobacco addiction,” said Garfield Mahood,
Executive Director of the Non-Smokers’ Rights
Association. “At the same time, we are profoundly
frustrated that the Canadian government, the first to
study plain packaging, could have moved ahead with plain
packaging sixteen years ago on the basis of the
recommendation of the Standing Committee on Health and
the significant body of research amassed at the time in
support of the reform,” explained Mahood.
“Where Australia is closing a major loophole on its
tobacco advertising ban, Canada is standing still,” said
Cynthia Callard, Executive Director of Physicians for a
Smoke-Free Canada. In markets such as Australia and
Canada, where traditional forms of advertising are
prohibited, the tobacco package itself has become the
most important vehicle by which tobacco companies sell
their products. Tobacco companies use logos and slogans
and manipulate the size, shape, and colouring of tobacco
packages to create positive impressions of their brands
and to downplay the extensive health risks of tobacco
use. Therefore, to be effective any plain packaging
reform must include standardized packaging.
“Today’s plain packaging announcement by Australian
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd demonstrates that the
Australian government puts the health of its citizens
ahead of the interests of multinational tobacco
companies. It is indeed a red letter day for the health
of Australians,” said Melodie Tilson, Director of Policy
with the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association. “The question
we have for the Harper government is quite simple,”
stated Tilson. “Don’t Canadian kids deserve the same
protection from the marketing ploys of tobacco companies
as Australian youth?”
Plain packaging has been endorsed by the 168 countries
that have ratified the global public health treaty, the
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, including
Australia and Canada. After reviewing research showing
that plain packaging reduces the 'cool' factor of
cigarettes for kids and strengthens the impact of health
warning messages, Parties unanimously recommended that
“the effect of advertising or promotion on packaging can
be eliminated if plain packaging is required.”
“Some of the pioneering research on plain packaging was
led by Health Canada,” said Cynthia Callard. Recent
research commissioned by Health Canada confirms that
young Canadians report that plain packaging would
increase the effectiveness of health warnings to them
and would reduce tobacco use by young people.
Despite threats by tobacco manufacturers, legal scholars
report that there are no legal barriers to the
introduction of plain and standardized packaging in
Canada.
Canadian health groups are calling on the federal
government to move quickly to require that all tobacco
products in Canada be sold in plain and standardized
packages.
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For
more information:
Melodie
Tilson, Director of Policy
Non-Smokers’ Rights Association
Work: 613.230.4211 x3
Cell:
613.882.6125
Cynthia
Callard, Executive Director
Physicians for a Smoke-Free
Canada
Work: 613.233.4878
Cell: 613.850.5594
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