CALL them ‘plain’, ‘generic’, ‘standardised’ or ‘homogenous’ following your choice, or even ‘neutral’ as the French lawmakers plan to name the new cigarette packs that they soon intend to turn into a legal obligation.
Whatever the appellation according to the country, the commercial promotion of tobacco is going to lose all its colourful and seductive designing when a cigarette pack will carry only the brand name in small, standardised letters dominated by grave health warnings and alarming messages emphasised with frightening illustrations.
So far Australia is the only country in the world which officially imposes these restrictions, but the example is soon to be followed by the United Kingdom and Ireland where neutral cigarette packs will appear in the market as of May next year and the commercial promotion of tobacco, as we see it today, will be banned.
But to come back to France, owners of more than a thousand cigarette shops came out in the streets all over the country earlier this month to protest against the forthcoming legislation. They say they are the hardest working people, opening their businesses early in the morning and not returning home until midnight; the new law will destroy their way of living.
To which Dr Bertrand Dautzenberg, a lung specialist and foremost anti-smoking crusader, responds: “If the protesters mean to say the proposed restriction will have an impact on the sale of tobacco, then it won’t be a bad idea at all. The whole thing finally boils down to a choice between saving businesses or saving lives!”
Quoting statistics, Dr Dautzenberg says tobacco is the only commercial product in the world that kills half of its consumers. According to a World Health Organization study some six million people die each year of diseases caused by smoking.
Julian Fossé, another prominent figure in the anti-smoking movement, says the tobacco industry wastes no time in devising ways to entice the very young with cigarette slogans carrying messages of adventure, bravery and even feminism aimed at teenage boys and girls:
“Visit any high school entrance at recess time. Students are not allowed to smoke in the compound but nobody can stop them from doing that on the sidewalk. You’ll see practically all the boys and girls smoking, not because they enjoy it but because for them a cigarette between the lips has become a symbol of being bold or liberated.”
Fossé continues: “Even many anti-tobacco campaigners, while discussing the damages caused by smoking, often forget a very essential fact that children who do not smoke are not out of danger either. The gravest examples are babies who, by breathing the cigarette smoke created by adults, run the risk of catching deadly diseases such as pneumonia, bronchitis, or asthma and are even prone to lung cancer and meningitis.”
Though, to the satisfaction of tobacco sellers, the French Senate last week delayed the neutral packaging motion, anti-smoking crusaders say this victory will eventually prove short-lived.
“This is a growing, international movement,” reminds Fossé:
“After England and Ireland more and more European countries will follow Australia’s example. Today one cannot afford to ignore the smoke signals coming from the south.”
French Health Minister Marisol Touraine confirms this: “There is no question of taking the Senate’s vote as a fatality and the project, following a few minor alterations, will be presented once again as a motion during the next session of the National Assembly. We will win because there is no other choice.”
“The fight against tobacco consumption holds the top position in our public health project,” adds the minister.
But, is giving up smoking really that hard? In the words of legendary American author Mark Twain: “It is the easiest thing in the world. I know that because I’ve done it thousands of times.”
—The writer is a journalist based in Paris.
Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2015
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