“Australia cigarette ‘plain packaging’ law passes Senate”
-Amber Kocher
A law has been passed by the Australian Senate in order to help reduce cigarette and tobacco use throughout the country. The cigarettes will no longer be sold in their brand packaging with colors and logos. All the cigarettes will be sold in olive green cartons. In addition to the uniformity, there will be graphic images printed on the cartons that warn of the consequences of smoking. Tobacco companies have stated that they plan on fighting and challenging the law. The government says that they will not back down and will not be deterred from their goal of eliminating tobacco use in Australia. Health Minister Nicola Roxon stated “We’re not going to be bullied into not taking this action just because tobacco companies say they might fight us in the courts.” A spokesmen for some of the tobacco companies in the industry says that the government will definitely have to spend a large amount of time and money fighting the legal actions brought against the law by the tobacco companies.
Australia is the first country in the world to introduce these kinds of laws, and hopefully won’t be the last. While motions have been made in other countries to reduce the exposure of tobacco use in public, Australia is taking a firm step to eliminate tobacco use, or at least reduce it to a minimal amount. Laws such as no smoking in restaurants and in specific public places are common in America and other countries. The problem that these strict rules face is they are hindering the capitalist rights of these companies, and will probably face a lot of legal action and challenges by these companies. While it’s a positive thing to try and be rid of tobacco products, it is citizens rights to buy and use what they want, and for the companies to be able to differentiate their products and market them until if and when tobacco becomes illegal. It will be interesting to see how the legal battle turns out because this situation is the first of its kind, and if these steps really lead towards minimizing tobacco use, it will be a great example for other nations to follow suit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15670297
1 comment:
I agree with Austrailia's efforts to minimize tobacco smoking in their country. People realize that tobacco is detrimental to their health, yet they continue to smoke cigarettes. This is their government's way of making it harder for people to ignore the fact that what they are doing to their bodies is unhealthy and should be stopped immediately.
Post a Comment