Rebecca Evans AM, Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, has spoken of her support for a UK wide approach to the standardisation of cigarette packaging.
The Assembly has, this week, debated and voted on a Supplementary Legislative Consent Motion (SLCM) which would allow the UK Government to bring in standardised packaging on a UK-wide basis provided that Ministers of the devolved nations approve the regulations.
An aim of the packaging would be to deter young people from taking up smoking by making it less attractive. It is envisaged that the standardised packaging would still include the health warnings in future.
Mrs Evans said:
“Smoking is the largest single cause of avoidable ill health and early death in Wales, and remains the largest preventable cause of cancer. Yet, every day in Wales around 39 teenagers try smoking cigarettes, introducing them to a truly deadly product.”
During the debate, Mrs Evans commented:
“This SLCM is specifically aimed at making smoking unattractive to under 18s – which is great – but in Wales we have higher rates of smoking in pregnancy than anywhere else in the UK.
“Around 16% of Welsh mothers smoking throughout pregnancy. I would therefore ask the Minister to make a case to the UK Government that the health messages on packaging should continue to remind expectant mothers of the harm that all the evidence says that smoking is doing to the unborn child.”
The UK Government has previously U-turned on this issue, but Mrs Evans said she was “pleased that the UK Government has had a late, but welcome change of heart.
She added that the Assembly was voting to give the UK Government permission to act on a UK-wide basis “in good faith, on the understanding that they will act” and asked the Minister what he considered to be a reasonable time frame for action, before he would consider going it alone and legislating for Wales only. The Minister said he believed the UK Government could legislate within the lifetime of the current Westminster Parliament.
Australia was the first country to pass legislation to introduce standardised packaging. The legislation came into force in December 2012 when all tobacco packs were standardised.
Research undertaken to date, highlights that plain packaging makes cigarettes less attractive to children and young people, and can deter them from smoking.
Mrs Evans added:
“The Welsh Government has long shown its commitment to tackling the problems of smoking. Amongst the measures taken to date are the ban on displaying tobacco behind the counter, the ban of sales of tobacco from vending machines, and efforts to prevent smoking in cars with children.”
For more info on the Welsh Government’s Stop Smoking Wales campaign and for tips and advice on smoking cessation services please visit: http://www.stopsmokingwales.com/home
