CAMPAIGNERS want graphic health warnings printed on every cigarette to help convince smokers to quit.
Experts reckon that putting messages, such the financial consequences, on individual fags acts as a better deterrent than graphic images on packets.
2
It comes as researchers in Australia found that pictures of black lungs, rotten teeth and cancerous mouths on packaging had lost their shock value.
The researchers, from James Cook University in Queensland, said that short-term health and non-health related consequences of tobacco use were more likely to prompt positive change in smoking behaviour.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), told The Sun Online: “Cigarettes are widely known as cancer sticks –why not put ‘smoking causes cancer’ on every cigarette to remind smokers every time they pull out a fag.
“The government admits it needs to more if it is to achieve its ambition of a smoke-free England by 2030.
“Warnings on cigarettes is an obvious next step, it’s already under consideration not just in Australia but also in Canada and Scotland. Smokers themselves say it could help them quit, and it would also be the clearest warning possible to children not to start.”
Cigarettes are widely known as cancer sticks –why not put ‘smoking causes cancer’ on every cigarette to remind smokers every time they pull out a fag
Deborah Arnott
Aaron Drovandi, who led the research in Australia, said: “Improving the quality and volume of information that is out there is vital in ensuring that young people, who are very much the target market for cigarette companies, are deterred from smoking, and current smokers are aware of the danger.”
His team questioned more than 2,000 people on the effectiveness of anti-smoking warnings and found messages on each and every fag were more likely to prompt positive change in smoking behaviour.
He also said that warnings around short-term and non-health related consequences, such as the financial impact, were more likely to deter smokers.
Leading the charge
Last year, the Canadian government said it was looking into new regulations which would force tobacco companies to apply labels to individual ciggies.
A government document stated: “There is recent but limited research showing that health warnings placed directly on a product, such as cigarettes, could be effective in making the product less appealing to users.”
The policy would also make it easier for authorities to track down illegal fags with contraband tobacco considered one of the commonwealth country’s most pressing problems.
Another option being considered is mandating that new warning labels are printed each year to keep the message “fresh”.
In the UK, government plans have revealed that smoking is set to be stamped out by 2030.
Tobacco giants will be forced to help smokers make the switch instead of cash-strapped local health services.
Cigarette packets – already plastered in health warnings and graphic images – will also be stuffed with a leaflets giving advice on how to quit.
‘Finish the job’
The new health plans, unveiled by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, will coincide with a crackdown on illegal black market cigs.
Smoking rates have halved in 35 years – with fewer than one in six adults now taking up the habit.
But health chiefs now want to “finish the job” by ridding the country of smoking for good.
The government plans reportedly say: “The gains in tobacco control have been hard-won, and there’s still much to do.
2
“For the 15 per cent of adults who are not yet smoke-free, smoking is the leading cause of ill-health and early death, and a major cause of inequalities.
“That’s why the Government wants to finish the job.”
Health bosses admit rates are still “stubbornly high” among groups like manual workers and the LGBT community.
But Britain overall currently has the second-lowest smoking rates in Europe after Sweden.
Figures from 2017 show that 14.9 per cent of UK adults smoke – down from 19.8 per cent in 2011.
The Government already wants to see rates down to just 12 per cent by 2022.
A ban on TV ads for cigarettes came into effect in 1965, while all printed advertising was banned in 2003.
Tobacco firms were banned from sports sponsorship in 2005 – two years before the public smoking ban.
Plain packaging became mandatory in 2016 – while taxes on tobacco have continued to rocket.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
