PLANS have been announced to standardise the packaging of cigarettes as a deterrent for minors.
The tobacco companies are spending millions on trying to stop these sensible proposals. I am proud our Commissioner is standing up for the welfare and health of our young people.
This bid is backed by Tony Lloyd, Greater Manchester’s Police and Crime Commisioner, who sees this as a move towards reducing the financial strain on Public Health Care services, and protecting younger members of the community; “More than 200,000 11-15 year olds take up smoking every year in the UK, with almost 600 children trying a cigarette for the first time, every single day.
By taking away the brightly coloured, branded packaging and replacing it with more prominent, shocking health warnings, we’ll be taking away one reason for our children to start smoking”.
Plain packaging would mean a standardisation of tobacco products, with branding and logos replaced with more prominent health warnings. A number of tobacco companies are fighting against this, with a fear that it will lead to an increase in illegal sales.
Tony Lloyd addressed this; “Tobacco companies have argued that these proposals will make packaging easier to counterfeit and so increase the sale of illegal cigarettes but I’ve spoken with senior officers at Greater Manchester Police who have given me absolute confidence that the security markings to be used on the standardised packaging will be no less useful than the existing system, making them no easier to copy.
Pat Karney, the director of Tobacco Action, has expressed his support for plain packaging tobacco: “The tobacco companies are spending millions on trying to stop these sensible proposals. I am proud our Commissioner is standing up for the welfare and health of our young people. Kids have a right to grow up in a smoke free world and be protected from the tobacco industry.”
Australia was the first to introduce plain packaging in 2012, with Tony Lloyd eager to follow their example. The commissioner has already written to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, in support of the proposal.
The Department of Health previously ran a public consultation on plain packaging in 2012; with a number of other anti-smoking measures expected to be announced by the government later this year.
