Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health. Yet there are millions of smokers all around the world. In order to reduce smoking-related illnesses and deaths, the European Union has proposed strict regulations on the way cigarettes are packaged and sold.
The new proposal will force tobacco companies to sell their products in generic packages with a mandatory health warning and the brand name in a standard and specific typographical size. Europe has banned advertisement of cigarettes and tobacco-based products since 2003.
However, the cigarettes and tobacco products are still packaged in the same attractive and seductive way. In some countries such as Brazil, cigarette advertisements are not forbidden if they carry a health warning stating "smoking is harmful to health".
A final decision on banning the current generic packaging of cigarettes and tobacco products will be taken next month and if the European Union decides to standardise the packaging, it could take up to five years to implement the law. It can be further delayed if the cigarette companies take the case to the court.
The British government is in favour of implementing the proposal at the earliest. There is also a possibility that Britain will implement it before the European Union passes the resolution at its meeting next month. In an interview to BBC, Britain's Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "Glitzy designs on packets attracted children to smoking and it made sense to look at less attractive packaging". Making cigarette packets unattractive with a plain design would help protect children from smoking in the first place.
It would also help to support those who are trying to quit smoking. Brazil took such a decision in 2001 and the Ministry of Health ordered all cigarette manufacturers to package their products with grisly, shocking pictures of illnesses caused by smoking.
Research shows that overall the number of smokers in the country has fallen by almost half in 20 years, and about the images on the packaging the survey shows that almost half of smokers, 47 per cent, stated the warnings made them to think "a lot" about the health risks, and 31 per cent said that the images prompted them to stop smoking.
Finally, would it be easier to ban the production and sale of cigarettes? That is another question.
These are some of the problems smoking can cause: Lung cancer, harm to a foetus, premature ageing, cardiovascular diseases, cerebral vascular diseases, addiction and a sense of helplessness.
Note: We expect that the price of a cinema ticket remains the same...
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Source: Esquire Magazine
