The WHO defines plain packaging of tobacco products as a measure restricting or prohibiting the use of logos, colors, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than brand names and product names displayed in a standard color and font style.
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“We’ll have to wait and see what the government proposes, but we will defend against excessive and ineffective regulation”.
The potential legal dust-up comes as no surprise to longtime anti-tobacco advocate Rob Cunningham, a lawyer and senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society.
It will coincide with World Smokefree Day and follows the unsuccessful court case by Big Tobacco against the Australian government.
Recent studies conducted by countries that introduced plain packaging proved that the aesthetic impact of plain packaging is significant and that it has tangible effect on the desirability of tobacco products. “That is the core of the discussion”.
“The benefits flowing from larger (health) warnings are clear, while the detriments to the manufacturers’ expressive interest in creative packaging are small”.
World Health Organization said a good way to amplify the message that “tobacco kills” and disrupt the psychology of tobacco consumption is making “plain packaging” of tobacco products also known as standardised packaging mandatory.
It further said that the main thrust of plain packaging will only be on the domestic legal cigarettes, which account for no more than 11 per cent of the total tobacco consumed in India. “We simply have to respond”.
On the eve of the World No Tobacco Day, the Voluntary Health Association of Assam and State Tobacco Control Cell has urged the new Assam government to strictly enforce the new 85 per cent pictorial warning rules on tobacco products.
“Mounting evidence shows plain packaging, along with increases in tobacco tax and smoke-free areas, effectively works on discouraging both children and adults alike from taking up, or continuing to smoke”. Those joining Australia implementing plain packaging laws include France, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam told Parliament last March that the government would not announce an implementation date for plain packaging until it has concluded talks with tobacco companies on intellectual property rights.
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The objective of the measure is to protect young people and others from inducements to tobacco, the department added.
