08.08.12
Plain packaging for all tobacco – Cancer Research UK
More than 75,000 people have signed up to the campaign for plain packaging for cigarettes, Cancer Research UK has announced. The campaign is in response to the DH’s consultation on the future of tobacco packaging.
‘The answer is plain’ calls for regulation to standardise the size and colour of tobacco packaging, with prominent picture health warnings. Research has indicated that this makes them less attractive to children – eight in ten smokers start by the age of 19.
As traditional forms of advertising are illegal, tobacco companies increasingly rely on attractive packaging to recruit new smokers, Cancer Research UK says
Director of tobacco policy, Jean King, said: “We’ve had such a positive response from across the UK. With more than 75,000 backing the removal of brightly coloured and slickly designed packs, people are aware of the need to continue to find ways to reduce the impact of smoking. Packaging is without doubt a marketing tool that affects how young people think about tobacco.
“Our submission to the consultation outlines the evidence to back plain packaging and the public overwhelmingly support it. We urge the Department of Health to respond to the consultation as quickly as possible to stop another generation from becoming addicted to a product that will kill half of all long term smokers. Plain packaging won’t stop everyone from starting smoking, but it will give millions of children one less reason to start.”
The DH consultation closes on August 10.
For more information, visit: www.theanswerisplain.org
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