“It is with great pleasure that I announce, ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Friday, that I have received Government approval to begin the process of introducing standardised/plain packaging of tobacco products in Ireland. While many arguments will be made against such an introduction, I am confident that this legislation will be justified and supported purely by the fact that it will save lives” stated Minister Reilly today.

As you are aware, smoking places an enormous burden of illness and mortality on our society with over 5,200 people dying every year from tobacco related diseases – one in two of all smokers will die from their addiction.

To replace the smokers who quit, the tobacco industry needs to recruit fifty new smokers in Ireland every day just to maintain smoking rates at their current level. Given that 78% of smokers in a survey said they started smoking under the age of 18, it’s clear that the tobacco industry focuses on children to replace those customers who die or quit.

The theme of World No Tobacco Day is “Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship”. “The introduction of standardised packaging will remove the final way for tobacco companies to promote their deadly product in Ireland.” the Minister said. Cigarette packets will no longer be a mobile advertisement for the tobacco industry. Research has shown that packaging has been used effectively to reassure consumers about the risks of smoking for example with the use of the words “mild” or “light” on packs in the past. Research has also shown that imagery and colours are also used to influence consumers. Pack shape and design are also key measures with packets available that resemble a lipstick box.

Standardised packaging of tobacco products will remove all form of branding – trademarks, logos, colours and graphics. The brand name would be presented in a uniform typeface for all brands and the packs would all be in one plain neutral colour.

There is strong evidence that standardised packaging will:

• Increase the effectiveness of health warnings;
• Reduce false health beliefs about cigarettes; and
• Reduce brand appeal particularly among youth and young adults.

Minister Reilly concluded “plain packaging is one of a number of measures that are required to effectively denormalise smoking in our society. As such this initiative should not be looked at in isolation. Education and awareness, cessation services and extending the smoking ban to other areas are just some of the other measures which I am currently progressing.”

NOTES FOR EDITOR:

An informative video by Cancer Research UK on the power that cigarette packaging has on children is available online at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_z-4S8iicc

Experts reporting from a meeting of cancer organizations across the world said smoking and other forms of tobacco use are the main drivers of a growing global burden of cancer.

They urged governments to put citizens’ health above the financial gains they reap from the tobacco business.

“The number of people diagnosed with cancer across the world is increasing. But there are clear actions that all countries can take which will go a long way to reducing both the numbers diagnosed from cancer and deaths from the disease,” said Harpal Kumar of the charity Cancer Research UK in a report published by the journal Science Translational Medicine on Wednesday.

Kumar, who worked with Harold Varmus of the U.S. National Cancer Institute and others, said those actions included higher taxes on tobacco products, ensuring health workers set an example by not smoking, deglamourizing the habit and protecting poor countries from increased marketing efforts by the industry.

Some 12.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year worldwide and cancer now accounts for more than 15 percent of annual deaths globally.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said last year that the number of people with cancer is set to surge by more than 75 percent by 2030, with particularly sharp rises in poor countries as they adopt unhealthy “Westernized” lifestyles.

Smoking is known to cause lung cancer – one of the most deadly forms of the disease – and also increases the of many other types including head and neck cancers, cancers of the bladder and kidneys, and breast, pancreas and colon cancer.

Wednesday’s report also said more needs to be done to ensure access and uptake of cancer-preventing immunizations – like the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer – is as high as it can be.

It said the number of people getting these vaccines was low, including even in wealthy countries such as the United States where only a third of teenage girls are being vaccinated.

GlaxoSmithKline and Merck make the only two licensed vaccines, Cervarix and Gardasil, against the human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes almost all cervical cancers.

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Harold Elliot Varmus, the winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Medi-cine, said a person’s genetic predisposition for cancer was small compared to the enormous cancer risk from smoking or tobacco consumption.

“Genetic research is a means to develop [cancer] therapy. In some cancers, such as colon cancer, breast cancer, thyroid cancer, renal cancer and several others, the genetic risks are less strong, compared to lifestyle behavior,” Varmus told The Jakarta Post here on Monday

Many kinds of cancer, especially lung cancer, were absolutely linked to smoking, he added. “The effort to diminish tobacco use, if it can be done, is very important to control cancer in Indonesia.”

Varmus, the director of US National Cancer Institute (NCI), made his comments after a lecture on the genetic basis of cancer at the University of Indonesia’s (UI) medical school.

During the lecture, which was sponsored by the US embassy, USAID Indonesia launched its Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER)-Health Indonesia progam, a US$770,000 initiative to enhance public health research in Indonesia.

Ratna Sitompul, the dean of UI’s medical school, said that non-infectious diseases, including cancer, had become more common in Indonesia, while at the same time the nation was struggling against infectious illnesses.

“We need to conduct a lot of research to uncover why a particular cancer is affecting patients. Some of the viruses we are now dealing with can cause cancer. By learning about the differences between the biodiversity of the two countries, we may get some answers on how best to fight cancer,” Ratna said.

According to the central government’s 2010 Basic Health Research Report (Riskesdas), 63 percent of adult men in Indonesia smoked. A large number of children, some under 5, also smoked, the report said.

Although the smoking rate for Indonesian women was low compared to other parts of the world, it has been growing rapidly.

The report also said that 4.3 of every 1,000 Indonesian people were afflicted by cancer.

“There’s a very high incidence of tobacco smoking in the country,” Varmus said.

According to Varmus, even in the US, which had dramatically reduced its number of smokers, 20 percent of the population continued to smoke, ignoring evidence that smoking led to cancer, respiratory diseases and cardiovascular illnesses.

“I know there is an opposition to tobacco control, but I believe we need to take bold preventive steps on tobacco use,” Varmus said.

Tobacco consumption is one of three major factors to assess a person’s risk for cancer, along with the presence of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which is the leading cause of cervical cancer, one of most prevalent forms of cancer afflicting Indonesian women.

Varmus said there were now many ways to try to combat cervical cancer, such as, among other things, early detection of the disease using pap smears in addition to vaccination.

A HPV inoculation program initiated by the local chapter of the Indonesian Obstetricians and Gynecologists (POGI) in Denpasar, Bali, a year ago, met with a cool reception, which was attributed to the Rp 3.6 million price tag for the 3-shot vaccination program.

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By Elly Burhaini Faizal, The Jakarta Post

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