Plain Packs Will Make Smoking History

(Access to Coverage of Tobacco Treatment In Our Nation)

January 26, 2012 Without anti-tobacco activist Simon Chapman, Australia might not have taken the bold pioneering step to require plain cigarette packaging that rattled the industry. Chapman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, is an unusual character: an academic who is better known as a campaigner, a feisty media performer who relishes debating with Big Tobacco mouthpieces, a snappy phrase-maker with a stand-up’s wit and timing, and an ex-smoker who wants to smash an industry whose products he once consumed. His 2008 paper arguing for plain packs was accepted by a preventive health taskforce, set up by the Australian Labor government, and then implemented – to the taskforce’s astonishment. He argues that replacing colorful, attractive packets with nothing by plain color, the manufacturer’s name, and a massive health warning will prevent non-smokers from taking up the habit and could prove fatal for the global tobacco industry. Back in 2008, plain packs were just an idea; now they are about to become a reality in Australia at the end of this year, with other countries set to follow suit, including New Zealand, Thailand, Panama, and possibly the UK.

For More Information:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/24/simon-chapman-plain-cigarette-packaging-activist

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