The packaging industry is important to Bradford and much of it is geared to supply the tobacco industry. Introducing plain packaging is a big threat to these jobs. Here's Paul Barber from Weidenhammer:
“These proposals could have serious implications for our business as tobacco packaging is vital to our turnover. It could cost up to 50 per cent of the jobs here."
And the same goes for Chesapeake which produces packaging for Philip Morris and BAT.
Plus these businesses recognise the agenda of the New Puritans - plain packaging for fags will be followed by plain packaging for booze and crisps.
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5 comments:
16th December, 2004
"On the same day as these statistics were published, the UK ratified the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This is the first international treaty on public health and has the potential to make a real difference in tobacco control at a global level by committing all parties to the following measures:
- Comprehensive bans on the advertising and promotion of tobacco products. - Labelling of tobacco products to warn about the dangers of smoking. - Education about the health effects of tobacco. - Greater controls on the smuggling of tobacco. - Protection of the public from the effects of secondhand smoke - Measures to reduce the availability and promotion of tobacco to young people."
http://gov-news.org/gov/uk/news/more_than_a_million_fewer_smokers_since_1998/77507.html
16. Plain packaging.
The effect of advertising or promotion on packaging can be eliminated by requiring plain packaging: black and white or two contrasting colours, as prescribed by national authorities: nothing other than a brand name and/or manufacturer's name, contact details and the quantity of the product in the packaging, without any logos or other features apart from health warnings, tax stamps and other government mandated information or markings: prescribed font style and size: and standardized shape, size and materials.
There should be no advertising or promotion inside or attached to the package or on individual cigarettes or other tobacco products"
http://www.who.int/fctc/guidelines/article_13.pdf
Previously
Tobacco Retailers Concerns 'Air-Brushed Out' By Government, UK
"Members of the Tobacco Retailers Alliance, a coalition of 25,000 independent retailers, have expressed outrage that their views were excluded from a Government report into retail displays of tobacco."
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/132901.php
So I don't think they'll worry too much about about the packaging industry.
If they put up a fight they will probably be dismissed in the same way the small shop keepers were.
MPs fall foul of 'dirty' tricks by tobacco giants
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/14/tobacco-industry-small-retailers
Cigarette packet branding to face consultation
"Health Secretary Andrew Lansley told the Times the government did not work with tobacco companies as it wanted them to have "no business" in the UK"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17698730
The Indian Health minister was the first to spill the beans in 2008.
"He said 152 countries had signed a WHO-supported international agreement to ban the production of tobacco products in a phased manner."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Now_Ramadoss_wants_ban_on_tobacco_products/rssarticleshow/3553096.cms
Time to grow your own I think.
Anonymous wrote, "Time to grow your own I think."
Unfortunately, they can make that illegal as well. Consult the American history on moonshining and check the American prison population for those who've grown pot in their basement.
And I believe that the "black helicopter" paranoia may actually be real in this area: I think I remember reading some articles about helicopters with heat sensors or somesuch looking for marijuana greenhouses in homes. And electricity usage monitoring as well. Anyone have any documentation on such?
- MJM
MJM - They don't need fancy sensors. Those cannabis growers use a lot of UV lighting and at night, a digital camera will easily spot a strong UV source.
Tobacco doesn't need any of that fancy growing stuff. It grows perfectly well outdoors all over the UK and it's a nondescript plant. Cannabis is easily recognised but tobacco has no obvious defining features.
It will produce thousands of seeds per plant and they'll even grow wild. It's sensitive to frost though, so a hard frost will decimate the wild population.
So yes, they can make it illegal, just as they can make dandelions illegal if they want. Stopping it growing as and where it pleases is a different matter.
I know this is an old post but Frank Davis came up with an idea that could save those packaging manufacturers. Non-branded cigarette boxes with fancy patterns and prints. Cheap and disposable, transfer the cigarettes from the horrible box into a much more attractive one.
They'd just be selling boxes, not tobacco, and it's up to the buyer what they use the boxes for ;)
http://cfrankdavis.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/plain-packaging-futures/
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