Citing growing evidence that plain packaging of tobacco
products saves lives by reducing demand for the lethal product, the World Health Organization (WHO) marked World No
Tobacco Day by urging countries to make smoking less attractive by dropping
glamorous packaging. The type of plain packaging of tobacco products proposed by
the WHO stands in sharp contrast to wrappers featuring rugged cowboys smoking
in the great outdoors.
Sample packages are black, with large warnings that smoking
kills and graphic images of people dying from cancer. Douglas Bettcher,
the WHO's director for the prevention of non-communicable diseases, says the
point of plain packaging is to reduce demand for tobacco by reducing the
attractiveness of these products. “It very clearly labels tobacco for what it is, the only
legally available product worldwide that when used as intended kills up to half
of its users,” said Bettcher.
The WHO reports almost 6 million people a year die
prematurely from tobacco-related illnesses. The number is projected to rise to
more than 8 million by 2030, with more than 80 percent of these preventable
deaths occurring in developing countries.
Packaging
Australia in 2012 became the first country to introduce plain packaging of
tobacco products, along with new and enlarged health warnings. France and
Britain have since followed suit. The WHO says other countries including
Ireland, Norway, Singapore, Belgium and New Zealand are also planning to
implement this measure.
Benn McGrady, an Australian lawyer and technical officer at
the WHO, says Australia conducted a 34-month review between December 2012 and
September 2015 to gauge the impact of plain packaging.“Over that period there was approximately a 2 percentage
point reduction in the prevalence of smoking in Australia. Zero-point-55
percentage points is attributable to the packaging changes,” he said. McGrady added there were an estimated 108,000 fewer smokers
over that period as a consequence of the changes to packaging and labeling.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Please insert your comments here