AMA Calls for Ban on 'Sneaky' Cigarette Packet Covers
AMA President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, said today that the AMA wants a total ban on covers that mask anti-smoking warnings on cigarette packs and harsh penalties introduced for the companies and individuals who are targeting vulnerable and impressionable consumers with these sneaky products.
Dr Haikerwal said the AMA has been made aware of 'packet jackets' in AFL team colours in South Australia, pretty pink covers produced by Redline Internationale in Tasmania aimed at young female smokers, and others that are available for as little as 90 cents each at service stations in New South Wales.
"These covers are yet another example of the sneaky tricks people will use to get around Australia's increasingly tougher tobacco control laws," Dr Haikerwal said.
"People are using trendy, fashionable and sports-related themes to hide graphic anti-smoking messages and make smoking look appealing.
"The people producing these covers are trying to make a killer habit look good - they must be stopped.
"It has taken years to get graphic picture warnings prominently displayed on cigarette packs and we need to get these warnings made more prominent, not hidden by irresponsible gimmicks.
"The people buying these covers are the people at highest risk of smoking-related illness. They are either smoking addicts who must give up for the sake of their health, or they are impressionable young people, mostly young women, who are being tempted into addiction to a killer product.
"Hiding anti-smoking messages is as big a crime against public health in Australia as producing cigarettes and the marketing of cigarettes, which dupes and dopes vulnerable people.
"Governments should immediately ban these products and impose heavy fines and other penalties on individuals and companies who produce and distribute them, and on the retailers who display and sell them," Dr Haikerwal said.
The AMA welcomes statements last week from the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, Christopher Pyne, who said he plans to introduce an amendment to the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act to either ban the covers or require them to include the graphic anti-smoking pictures.
"While the Federal Government has signalled it will take action, this may take some time, so we need some immediate responses from the States and the community to remove the covers and get on with the main game of stopping Australian smoking, Dr Haikerwal said.