PLAIN packaging for cigarettes has taken another step towards reality, despite suggestions that manufacturers and retailers should be given more time to sell their old stock.
The Smoke-free Environments (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Amendment Bill is heading to its third and final reading in the New Zealand Parliament, after passing the committee stage by 108 votes to 13 yesterday.
The law would make it illegal for tobacco companies to print any branding on cigarette boxes, only allowing the name in small plain type with graphic warnings about the risks of smoking.
Although the Bill has attracted criticisms from those who believe it is being rushed through, it is interesting to see how such a law will affect the sale, marketing and packaging of cigarettes elsewhere, especially in impoverished countries like the Solomon Islands where cigarette smoking is a growing concern.
“Tobacco harms the health, the treasury, and the spirit of the Solomon Islands,” says the United States-based Tobacco Atlas which treks cigarette smoking worldwide. “Every year more than 410 of its people are killed by tobacco-caused disease, while more than 8,000 children and more than 90,000 adults continue to use tobacco each day.”
Tobacco Atlas warned against complacency and has called on tobacco-control advocates to “reach out to other communities to strengthen their efforts in this mortal fight”.
“Even though fewer men, on average, die from tobacco use in the Solomon Islands compared with other middle-income countries, still six men are being killed by tobacco every week, necessitating action from policymakers,” Tobacco Atlas said on its website, quoting figures from 2010. Those figures show that of the number of men who die in the Solomon Islands, 13.5 percent of them die from the effects of cigarette smoking, compared to 7.4 percent for women.
“More women, on average, die from tobacco use in the Solomon Islands compared with 7.4 [percent] other middle-income countries.”
The Solomon Islands has one of the highest rates of cigarette smoking in the world, statistics released by the government show, and by 2013 studies by Tobacco Atlas revealed alarming rates of smoking among boys and girls.
The statistics show that 38.4 percent of the men population in the Solomon Islands smoke compared to 15.5 percent for women. For younger people the news is grimmer, with 28.3 percent of the boy population smoking compared to 18.4 for girls.
Australia already has laws for the plain packaging of tobacco products and those laws have become a major test case for global tobacco companies in their fight against restrictions on sale of cigarettes.
In New Zealand, Prime Minister John Key said the Smoke-free Environments (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Amendment Bill will be law by the end of the year.
“We’re feeling a lot more confident . . . and the bill’s now progressing through and it’s my expectation it will become law at some point,” he said.
NZ First MP Barbara Stewart accused the Government of rushing through the change, saying the transition period for retailers and manufacturers to replace their old stocks should be extended from 12 weeks to six months.
“The bottom line is that 12 weeks is not sufficient to basically get rid of all your old stock and sell it on,” she said.
“No doubt the minister would be very happy when some of these ram raids [by thieves] are carried out, because then all of the [branded] cigarettes and all of the tobacco is taken by these people.”
Stewart said although the bill had been introduced three years ago, a date had never been set for the law change.
Labour health spokesman Chris Hipkins took issue with Stewart’s stance and showed less sympathy for business owners.
Mr Hipkins said the burden and cost of the plain packaging bill would fall on the tobacco industry.
“It is an industry entirely without conscience and entirely without any moral compass. This is an industry that sets out to kill its customers.
“I have to say to the members opposite that they should search deeply within themselves to find their own moral conscience.”
Mr Hipkins argued against Stewart’s support of business owners and said businesses had known about the law change since 2013 and “had plenty of time to prepare”.
“The cost will predominantly fall on the tobacco companies whose job, as I’ve said, is to kill people. That is what they set out to do.
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