In a bid to tighten its grip on the tobacco industry even more and make the youth less likely to attract to cigarettes, France is considering to order cigarette companies to plain package cigarettes by barring the company logo on packets and banning use of e-cigarettes in public.
If these policies are actually enforced, they would prove to be a paradigm shifting move for the country’s once well known “Smoking paradise” image and make France a country with the toughest anti-smoking policies.
The health minister of the country would present a law in the next month that would make it compulsory for cigarette manufacturers to pack cigarettes in plain packages – with no distinctive logos on them.
However, name of the manufacturer would be allowed, albeit in small letters beneath a graphic health warning. According to the health ministry, this would be one of the many measures the country is enforcing to curb smoking, along with the ban on e-cigarettes in public places.
Plain packaging of cigarettes was first observed in Australia in the year 2012. Countries like Britain, Ireland and New Zealand are also planning on enforcing similar strategies in the near future.
The tobacco retailer’s association of the country is, however, deeply shocked by the decision of even proposing any such legislation. According to them, it is not the different packaging that would curb cigarette usage, but strict government regulations on direct sales. According to them, enforcing such measures would make it easy for fake products to easily imitate the packages and increase the number of counterfeit products in the market.
What actually comes in action is yet to be seen but this sure would give the youth an important message – if so many measures are being taken to curb it, smoking sure must be a really big (bad) issue.
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