The fight for plain packaging of tobacco

The sovereignty of countries should be absolute and not influenced by multinational companies with complex accountability. This laudable move towards plain packaging must not be derailed by veiled tactics from companies with vested interests. Only then can progress be made to tackle tobacco-associated diseases, which are largely preventable, but mostly lethal. After a recommendation from the 2009 report of Australia’s National Preventative Health Taskforce, on April 29, 2010, the Australian government announced plain packaging of tobacco products would be fully implemented by July 2012. Australia was the first country in the world to set a deadline. ASH Australia and others hailed the decision as a major step in the fight against tobacco. In the lead-up to Australia’s 2010 federal elections, the three major tobacco companies (BAT, Philip Morris, Imperial) poured $5 million into a misleading mass media ad campaign against plain packs, fronted by hastily-formed “Australian Alliance of Retailers” (AAR). ASH and other groups, and six Australians of the Year condemned the AAR campaign, urged all parties to honour the July 2012 commitment. The ALP and Greens reaffirmed support; the Liberal/National parties agreed to “consider” it. Meanwhile the campaign split the retail sector. Major supermarket Coles dissociated themselves from it. Woolworths followed, repudiating retail groups’ “deceptive behaviour”; one umbrella group, the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, also withdrew. Health groups including ASH wrote to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission objecting to the “misleading and deceptive” campaign and noted the AAR was hastily formed with a sole shareholder and sham address, and that the campaign was from the tobacco industry, not small retailers.