Authorities smoking socks — BAT
BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT), South Africa’s biggest cigarette maker, has unsurprisingly come out against plans to force cigarette companies to sell their products in plain packets by next year.
France, New Zealand, India and Britain are all considering adopting standardised packaging on tobacco products, removing advertising from the equation, which can add to the glamour and allure of the product.
Meanwhile, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is investigating Australia’s ban on tobacco branding.
The WTO put together a panel on May 5 to judge a dispute between Australia and tobacco lobbies, which say the legislation is a barrier to trade and restricts intellectual property.
Leslie Rance, head of corporate and regulatory affairs for the Southern Africa area for BAT, said it strongly opposed plain packaging for its products.
“There is no credible evidence that plain packaging will work in terms of stopping children from taking up smoking or encouraging current smokers to quit,” said Rance.
“In addition, plain packaging fails to respect our constitutionally entrenched rights on trademark protection.
“Australia is the only country to have introduced plain packaging in 2012, and the exper- iment is failing. In the first year since the introduction of plain packaging, legal tobacco volumes grew in Australia for the first time in a decade; smoking incidence or the rate in which people give up actually halved; while illicit tobacco sales increased 20%.”
Rance said that several Australian politicians were calling for the measure to be reconsidered. Since 2012, tobacco products in Australia could be sold only in plain packets.
Could the next logical steps be to force fast food into plain packs as well?
“In addition to tobacco, other industries should also be concerned about the possibility of plain packaging and the precedent it could set around disregarding trademarks and intellectual property rights.
“Could the next logical steps be to force alcoholic beverages, high sugar content beverages and fast food into plain packs as well?”
Five sovereign states — Indonesia, Cuba, Ukraine, Honduras and the Dominican Republic — were all at various stages of challenging Australia’s decision.
Tobacco companies claim there is no evidence that the Australian law has reduced smoking.
Big tobacco has argued that the main impact of the law has been to promote smuggling, which makes cigarettes cheaper, but these products do not pay tax.
This, they argue, would encourage consumers to smoke more because they would be paying less more often. The counter argument is that smuggling can be stopped by improving enforcement.
Some suggest that there is little evidence that Australia’s plain packs are causing smokers to quit, but it may deter the next generation from smoking.
South Africa has already got bold health warnings on packaging, and has banned smoking in many public places, but health experts want tougher restrictions.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told Reuters he was not sure he could wait for the WTO decision. “We can start making preparations now. I want it as soon as possible, but realistically and most probably it would be next year,” Motsoaledi said.
He is a former smoker who quit in his final year of medical studies more than 30 years ago.
The World Health Organisation estimated that in 2012 tobacco killed 6 million people worldwide. Of these, 600 000 were nonsmokers who died from passive smoking.