Posted on 05/31/2008 4:55:47 AM PDT by RouxStir
Distinctive packaging for cigarettes may be replaced by plain black and white lettering under Government plans to reduce smoking, it has been announced.
The Government has plans to ban brightly coloured packets, remove cigarettes from display and stop the cheap option of a pack of 10 A red packet of Marlboro or a gold Benson and Hedges wrapping could become a thing of the past after research showed children easily identify brands and link smoking to being "cool".
Along with putting cigarettes under the counter in shops, banning packs of 10 and restricting vending machines, it is one of the key proposals in the latest document on tobacco control from the Department of Health.
Ministers are pleased with the success of the public smoking ban and increasing the legal age for buying tobacco and are keen to introduce more measures to stop people smoking and prevent children from taking it up.
The new consultation, launched to mark World Tobacco Day, also includes banning the advertising of cigarette papers and other smoking "paraphernalia".
About a quarter of the adult population smokes and rates are dropping very slowly.
Women are not quitting as fast as men and there are signs that a drop in lung cancer cases in women has stopped and may even be rising.
Smoking increases the risk of cancers, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
More than 200,000 under-16s start smoking each year and are three times more likely to die from cancer than those who start in their 20s.
Dawn Primarolo, the public health minister, said: "Protecting children from smoking is a government priority and taking away temptation is one way to do this.
"If banning brightly coloured packets, removing cigarettes from display, and removing the cheap option of a pack of 10 helps save lives, then that is what we should do."
Mostly true, but the downslide started precipitously after WWII.
Britain dumped tens of thousands of firearms into the ocean that had been donated by US residents for Britain's Homeland Protection from 1939. (And were even "proofed" by Britain).
Voting out Winston Churchill should have been an egregious symptom.
My sentiments too! LOL!
This is so blissfully lame. It is guaranteed to make cigarettes appear more dangerous and "cool." I don't know about any other steps they are taking, but this one, measured by itself, will be shown to be a factor increasing adolescent smoking.
On the bright side, maybe this campaign offers staffing opportunities for Health Ministerette Dawn Primarolo,
If anyone feels like marking my words, by all means go ahead.
It’s too bad that people can’t figure out for themselves that they’re being lured into destroying their health by slick marketing and fancy packaging. The alcohol industry is the same. Sales would plummet if all alcoholic beverages came in the same standard bottle with a plain black and white label printed in Times New Roman font, and if people weren’t swamped with ads suggesting that their lives would be ever so much more fun if they were drinking such-and-such brand.
“Protecting children from smoking is a government priority”
NO, No it is not! How about protecting children from islamic invasion via immigration? terrorism? rampant liberalism?
Good God Almighty,,,,,another day dawns....another insane idea comes to light........it just NEVER ends....we’ve got people flippin’ out because they think GWB is coming after them to kill them, now we have whackjobs who think brightly colored cigarette packs are the reason people smoke......what next? Never mind, I’m afraid to ask.....
remember joe camel?
liked that series of ads.
but ted kennedy and his buds got rid of joe.
Cart, horse!
They tried this back in the 90s but backed off because it is a violation of NAFTA Chapter 11. Back then, there was some controversy because Carla Hill had been the US Trade Representative when NAFTA was negotiated and it was Carla Hill’s firm that threatened Canada with the NAFTA arbitration panel over the cig packages.
Oh yeah, now I remember.
Peace
There will be more freedom and less taxes under Islam.
Are we going to start seeing UK DEA agents flying over Virginia spraying tobacco fields? LOL!
Yes, Guido would be back in business selling cigarette packs out of the trunk of his car.
That’s racist.
There goes their tax revenue ... but they’ll just make it up by raising some other tax, say on air. The Brit’s will be required to wear air meters and taxed on how much they breathe ...
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