Australian Medical Association

This AMA submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into the Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 supports legislation to remove all attractive, decorative and brand-recognisable packaging on tobacco products.

On World No Tobacco Day, the AMA is putting its full support behind Government efforts to stop the tobacco industry using clever and fashionable marketing and advertising techniques to promote the killer smoking habit in the community, especially to young people.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that tobacco companies are still using marketing tactics to entice young people to smoke, despite tough measures by governments to combat smoking.

“The AMA strongly supports the Federal Government’s plain packaging legislation, and we urge an end to all forms of tobacco promotion,” Dr Hambleton said.

The AMA welcomes the draft Bill for the plain packaging of tobacco products and the proposed design of the new packs, both of which were released today by the Government.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said the plain packaging laws would put Australia ahead of the world in anti-smoking measures.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the listing of nicotine patches on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) would help thousands of Australians quit their killer smoking habit.

Dr Pesce said that the decision would especially benefit people in lower socio-economic status groups who tend to have higher smoking rates than the general population.

The AMA today called on all parties to support the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products in Australia and to publicly condemn the reported tobacco industry advertising campaign against this groundbreaking public health initiative.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said that Australia is set to lead the world with strong anti-smoking measures that will save lives and improve the health of the population, and urged all parties and politicians to get behind the plain packaging plan.

South Australia has the dubious distinction of receiving the AMA’s annual Dirty Ashtray Award for the second year in a row for the Australian State or Territory that made the least progress on combating smoking during 2009/10.

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on 31 May, AMA Federal President, Dr Andrew Pesce today announced results of the AMA/Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH) National Tobacco Scoreboard.

The scoreboard allocates points to each State and Territory in various categories, including legislation, to track how effective governments have been at combating smoking in the previous 12 months. For the first time, this year the Commonwealth Government was considered as part of the same ranking process as State and Territory governments.

“It’s disappointing that South Australia is falling behind the rest of the country when it comes to tobacco control,” Dr Pesce said.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the Government’s package of anti-smoking measures would save lives and improve the health of many Australians.

Dr Pesce said the AMA has been an advocate for higher taxes on tobacco for many years.

“It is well known that the price of tobacco products has a significant impact on demand,” Dr Pesce said.

“Increasing the tax on tobacco products will hopefully put tobacco further out of reach of children, and encourage people to quit smoking or deter them from taking it up.”

The AMA today welcomed the decision by the Federal Government to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products from January 2012.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said the AMA believed that mandating plain packaging of all tobacco products would be another effective action to encourage people to stop smoking or refrain from taking up the killer habit.

“In 2007-08, about 20 per cent of GP patients were daily smokers,” Dr Pesce said.

“Every day, doctors see a growing number of patients who are at high risk of serious diseases and premature death due to smoking.

“Smoking-related illnesses cost the Australian economy up to $5.7 billion a year in lost productivity.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, today said good planning was a key to fulfilling New Year’s resolutions to quit smoking.

“Giving up smoking is a common New Year’s resolution, and with good planning smokers can increase their chances of successfully quitting smoking for ever,” Dr Pesce said.

“There are many ways to quit smoking and different methods will suit different people. For advice and support, see your GP who can talk you through the different methods and help with an approach that is best suited to you."

MJA Media Release -  Death notification forms should ask if deceased smoked

Death notification forms should include voluntary questions about whether the deceased was a smoker, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Professor Freddy Sitas, Director of the Cancer Research Division at Cancer Council NSW, and his co-authors, from the Schools of Public Health of Queensland and Adelaide Universities said death notification forms should include voluntary questions such as whether the deceased had ever smoked, the age at which he or she stopped smoking and whether the next-of-kin was a smoker.