Tobacco Packaging

Sarah Wollaston Excerpts

Thursday 7th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman]

The issue for us is that we want to remove the last aspects of advertising that are available to the tobacco industry. At the moment, there is still an attractive promotional aspect of tobacco, which is the packaging. We want all tobacco packs to be uniform, including the colour of the pack, and to allow the promotion of strong anti-smoking and pro-health messages. Evidence is emerging from Australia, but other parts of the globe are going ahead with standardisation of packaging, including Ireland.

[Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making a powerful point. Does he agree that use of the term “standard packaging” or “plain packaging” is a misnomer? We should be calling it “stark-staring truth packaging”. What it means is that we are handing someone a packet with a picture of gangrene. It is actually a crystal ball, and it counteracts the very powerful subliminal messages and the last legal form of tobacco marketing in this country.

[Bob Blackman]

The fact is that smoking is a lethal addiction. We know that. It is the one product in service in the world where, if used in the way it is intended, will lead directly to poor health and possibly death. Across England, 80,000 people a year die from smoking-related diseases. There are more premature deaths from smoking than from obesity, alcohol, illegal drug use and AIDS put together. It is the biggest single killer. In the long run, if we can get a fall of just one percentage point in smoking prevalence rates, we could save 1,800 lives per year. Who would not wish to save 1,800 lives per year? There cannot be an effective public health policy unless tobacco control is at its heart.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alex Cunningham]

I will congratulate any Government who are making the right decision on plain packaging.

I am aware that some Members fear that a fall in demand for tobacco will cost many of their constituents their jobs. I know that they will stand up and speak for the industry, but they will also be speaking for their constituents. I hope that the prospect of improved health, a smaller burden on the national health service and the protection of children will make them think again. I also hope that today’s debate will focus not on the cynical speculation that surrounds the drivers of tobacco policy and the influence that the tobacco lobbyists are able to exert, but on the decidedly positive effects that standardised packaging could bring, and the harm that is likely to result if the Government continue to insist on dragging their feet.

Reducing the prevalence of tobacco use is a key public health priority. None of us needs reminding of the consequences of smoking, which remains the leading cause of preventable mortality in the UK. Half the number of lifetime smokers will die from smoking-related diseases, which means that there may be 100,000 preventable deaths each year. One in five adults continues to smoke, and many people continue to take up the habit, including 573 children aged between 11 and 15 each and every day.

[Dr Wollaston]

Does it not strike the hon. Gentleman as strange that the Government claim to be delaying the introduction of standardised packaging because they want to wait for more evidence, but at the same time are virtually rushing into regulation to make e-cigarettes a medicinal product, although there is mounting evidence that, if anything, they could cause harm?

[Alex Cunningham]

I agree that we also need to look into the issues surrounding the smoking of electronic cigarettes.

The Government should be acting on this matter. The evidence has already been presented to the House today. It is unquestionable that we need to take action now, and save children and young people from an addictive habit that will devastate their lives.

As I have said many times before, while I disagreed with the former Health Secretary, the right hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), about a number of issues, I believe that the best thing he ever said was that he wanted the tobacco industry to have “no business” in the UK. I hope that the new Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison), shares that goal, and will pursue it with the vigour that it deserves. I welcome her recent assertion that

“Stopping children and young people smoking is a priority for us all”.

However, actions speak louder than words.

Since the Government’s consultation closed 15 months ago, Australia has become the first country to introduce standardised packaging for tobacco products. That is already changing attitudes. Our own Government’s inaction in failing to enact measures similar to those in Australia poses a major threat to tobacco control. However, I was pleased to hear the new Under-Secretary of State tell the House during Health questions last month that

“new information ... not just from this country but from around the world… is under very active consideration.” —[Official Report, 22 October 2013; Vol. 569, c. 132.]

I should welcome her confirmation of the timetable for the completion of that consideration and the making of a definitive decision.

I have no doubt that standardised packaging for tobacco products is necessary to quell demand. Smoking is an addiction that begins in childhood, and tobacco packaging is designed to be attractive, catching the eye of young people in particular. I am aware of the damage that this horrible habit is doing to people in my constituency, young and old alike, many of whom live in some of the most deprived wards in the country. We need to take active steps to reduce the incidence of smoking, and to implement measures to prevent future uptake. The decision to delay progress with standard packaging will needlessly condemn hundreds of thousands more to a life of addiction because some think it “cool” to smoke. Plain packaging fits the bill. Not only is there a real need for it, but it is a solution that is wanted and workable.

It is worth noting that, during a Westminster Hall debate in September, the former Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry), recounted her own experiences of tobacco addiction and its horrendous consequences. Fortunately, she was able to kick the habit. It is significant that she recalled the “power of the packet”, and spoke openly of choosing a particular brand of cigarette for her first pack

“because they were green, gorgeous and a symbol of glamour.”—[Official Report, 3 September 2013; Vol. 567, c. 23WH.]

Indeed, she made a superb case for standardised packaging as a means of preventing future uptake. I hope that that, along with evidence provided by fellow Members today, will remind the Health Secretary of the strong supporting evidence, and persuade him to delay no more. Perhaps he will even go so far as to do the right thing and give Members the right to vote on the issue, thus allowing the will of Parliament to be implemented.

The United Kingdom has previously taken a leading role in this regard, certainly in Europe. It has some of the most comprehensive tobacco control policies in the world, not least the tobacco control plan, which led to the introduction of smoke-free public places and the banning of displays on retail premises. It is clear that the current Government have recognised, at least to some degree, the raft of negative consequences that can arise from ready access to branded packaging, yet Ministers remain adamant that the evidence we have is not substantial enough, and continue to insist that non-legislative solutions are better suited to the task in hand.

There is already a wealth of evidence that standardised packaging works, and new evidence is being published all the time. A systematic review of 37 peer-reviewed studies, carried out by the university of Stirling for the Department of Health, found standard packaging to be less attractive while also improving the effectiveness of health warnings, thereby reducing smoking uptake among young people. The review also found that standardised packs were perceived as having less “clutter” to detract from the all-important health warnings, with the monotony and sincerity of the packaging serving to enhance their seriousness and believability. Since then at least 12 additional studies have been published, and the growing body of research consistently reports that standardised packaging would reduce the appeal of tobacco products and increase the effectiveness of health warnings.

Lest there be any doubt, let me add that the evidence from Australia confirms those findings. Not only do those who smoke cigarettes from standardised packs perceive their cigarettes to be of a lower quality than those from branded packs, but there is a demonstrated tendency to perceive cigarettes as less satisfying.