• 12/19/2004
  • Tasmania, Australia
  • Ellen Whin

Graphic posters featuring images of a man with mouth cancer will be displayed at all tobacco retail outlets in Tasmania from this week.

Letters will be sent to Tasmania’s 1200 licensed cigarette sellers advising them of the requirement to display the poster. The full-colour image shows a man with cancer invading his lip, mouth and teeth. Tobacco sellers will be required to display it prominently alongside their cigarettes and tobacco products, or risk a $5000 fine. Director of Public Health Roscoe Taylor said the posters would also contain a message encouraging people to contact the Quit health line.

“It’s a fairly confronting image,” Dr Taylor said. The image had been obtained as part of national research into the dangers of smoking and was part of a series from the University of New South Wales, he said.

“That particular image was shown by researchers to have the highest impact and it is the image that is scheduled to appear on cigarette packets in the future,” Dr Taylor said. He said the aim of the image was to educate people that smoking caused a range of illnesses including cancers and heart disease.

“Too many people simply associate smoking with lung cancer but it is an unfortunate fact that tobacco smoke is a poison that causes a whole range of problems starting at the mouth,” he said.

On January 1, new smoking restrictions come into effect in Tasmania. Smoking will be banned in gaming rooms, cabarets and nightclubs. A total ban on smoking in hospitality venues will come into effect on January 1, 2006, making Tasmania the first state in Australia to ban smoking in all clubs and bars.