MP attacks ‘light’ cigarettes
By politics.co.uk staff
The government needs to force tobacco companies to wrap their products in plain packaging and stop using the term ‘light’, a leading MP has said.
Charlotte Atkins, a member of the Health Select Committee, said “research has found that current tobacco packaging is misleading by implying that some tobacco products are less harmful than others”.
The Staffordshire Moorlands Labour MP has helped table a parliamentary motion drawing attention to a recent article adopted by the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which defines tobacco packaging and display as a means of advertising and promotion.
The parliamentary motion “believes that misleading packaging is in contravention of the EU directive on tobacco products and that research also shows that removing colours and brand imagery from packs increases the effectiveness of health warnings and supports the prohibition of retail display of tobacco products”.
Ms Atkins said she wanted to the government “to introduce measures to require plain packaging of all tobacco products by regulation”.
A Department of Health spokesperson confirmed to politics.co.uk that the issue of ‘unbranding’ cigarette boxes was under review but that no decision had yet been taken.
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