Nicola Roxon Determined to Fight for Plain Packaging of Tobacco

Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, has returned from a United Nations meeting on non-communicable diseases with even more determination to pass the plain packaging of tobacco legislation through the Senate. Nicola Roxon recently told the ABC, “We are keen for them to be passed. We have commitments and enough votes for it to pass the Senate. It’s now just a matter of programming for it to be on.”

The UN High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases was held in New York last week and addressed global health issues and the need to act on preventing non-communicable diseases. Nicola Roxon’s speech at the UN meeting focused on the issue of tobacco and the need to get tough on tobacco in order to prevent an increase in deaths from tobacco related illnesses. “If we don’t take steps to tackle tobacco, the WHO estimates that the number of people dying each year from tobacco related illness will rise from nearly 6 million per year currently, to more than 8 million by 2030.”

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Margaret Chan, also reinforced the need to reduce tobacco usage by arguing it contributes quite a bit to health costs. Dr Chan stated that a recent World Economic Forum and Harvard University study estimates non-communicable diseases (which includes tobacco related illnesses) are estimated to cost the global economy more than US$ 30 trillion over the next 20 years. Dr Chan urged governments to “stand rock-hard against the despicable efforts of the tobacco industry to subvert this treaty.”

Nicola Roxon supports the need to reduce tobacco usage and wants to cut down smoking rates to help improve overall health and well being as well as to reduce health costs in Australia. But it seems Roxon will have to put up a bit of a fight with tobacco companies if she wants this legislation to pass through the Senate. Not so long ago, Spokesperson for British American Tobacco Australia (BATA), Scott McIntyre, threatened to challenge the Federal Government in court if this legislation passes through the Senate to “protect” the company’s “valuable trade marks, which are worth billions of dollars.”

Nicola Roxon is staying firm in her push to get the legislation passed through the Senate and said in her speech at the UN meeting, “The Australian Government is very confident that we can withstand these threats and challenges. In fact, the more the tobacco companies fight, the more we know we are on the right track.”

The laws for plain packaging of tobacco are scheduled to start on January 1st, 2012.