Plain Packaging For Tobacco Products Approved

The Oireachtas has passed a law for standardised packaging to be used on tobacco products.

It is the second country in the world behind Australia, and the first in Europe, to approve such a law.

The Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill passed all stages in the Oireachtas on Tuesday and the move is said to help protect citizens, particularly children.

The standardised packaging will see all tobacco industry marketing removed from cigarette packets, with the brand printed on the packet in a standardised font and colour instead. In addition, the size of the warning on the front of the packet will be doubled and feature a graphic picture warning. Currently, a picture warning is only featured on the back of the packet. There will also be a legal minimum size for cigarette packets, with slim packets that resemble lipstick packets, no longer being legal.

Welcoming the passing of the Bill, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr James Reilly, said: "Today is a very good day for the future health of our children. The interests of public health will be served when children decide never to take up smoking in the first place and if smokers are persuaded to quit.

"We have a duty to prevent our children from being lured into a killer

addiction. Standardised packaging will strip away the illusions created by shiny, colourful cigarette packets and replace them with shocking images showing the real consequences of smoking."

Every year, 5,200 people die from smoking-related diseases in Ireland. It is the number one cause of preventable death in the country and is responsible for almost one in five of all deaths.

(JP)