Source: www.stuff.co.nz
Author: staff

Even in today’s world with its plethora of information-gathering techniques there is probably no way to say for certain how much influence the use of revolting pictures on cigarette packets is having on the smoking rate, The Nelson Mail said in an editorial on Thursday.

One thing is fairly certain, though – the images of gangrenous toes, diseased lungs and other rotting body parts are unlikely to bring about an increase. They have surely made some contribution to the latest statistics, which show a marked drop in the smoking rate, down from 25 percent of New Zealanders two years ago to around 20 percent, or 170,000 fewer smokers.

The Health Ministry is right to attribute some of that improvement to the pictures, which at a stroke removed any semblance of sophistication from tobacco packaging, an area manufacturers used to put some effort into. It is doubtful that they can identify much revenue potential in that any more.

The point has been further emphasised by a series of discomforting television commercials bravely fronted by mouth cancer sufferer Adrian Pilkington. He too shows the true nature of tobacco addiction in a way that forces smokers to confront the dangers of their habit.

These two measures, along with the requirement for the Quitline number to be on every cigarette packet, are undoubtedly having an effect, hard as it is to define. There have after all been a number of restrictions introduced that have made it more difficult to pursue the habit as part of New Zealanders’ social lives and the prices of cigarettes and tobacco have risen to the point where they are almost luxury items, rather than the staple of 50 years ago when they were widely believed to be good for you.

A great deal of effort has been put into health education which uncovers the horrors of smoking-related illnesses, various advertising campaigns have stressed the habit’s social handicaps and the dangers of secondhand smoke and the Government has provided generous financial assistance for smokers wanting to use replacement therapies.

It could also be that, partly but not solely because of all these things, a tipping point has been reached in public thinking, making smoking not just unpopular but unacceptable to the great majority of New Zealanders. This is what happened with drink-driving, which was once not only very widespread but also tolerated in all corners of society. Over the past 25 years attitudes have changed sufficiently to bring shame to anyone who still drives after drinking more than a little and it’s possible that smoking is achieving a similar notoreity in spite of Hollywood’s best efforts to keep making it look fashionable.

This is not to say that the battle is won. If 20 percent of adults continue to smoke, the toll on their health will continue to end too many lives prematurely – and often after a horrible, lingering decline – and to place a heavy burden on a health system that is stretched enough without having to deal with such needless self-inflicted harm.

The ministry says that smoking kills 4700 New Zealanders a year. In light of that, graphic reminders of what it can do were an appropriate addition to the packaging. Since then the three big tobacco companies have caved in on dropping the misleading “light” and “mild” labels from their packets. The next step is to ban retail displays of tobacco products, a sensible way to reduce temptation without trampling on the right to smoke.

As the addition of the gruesome pictures seems to show, every little helps.