Payng lip service to no smoking issue

We've been campaigning to dash cigarette smoking for a long time now but clearly more than lip service is needed. Smoking in many minds should have been nipped in the butt many years ago.

It has taken New Zealanders many decades to develop a disdain for smoking. Within the last 20 years, some offices had either "no smoking" or "It's okay" for those found instructions acceptable either way.

Then, notices on cigarette packets were becoming noticeable. When they didn't work, the prices increased, and when they didn't deter smokers the message of packets became bolder. When that didn't work, the prices increased and when that didn't work...the drift was glacial.

Four years ago, Rotorua MP Steve Chadwick almost lost her seat as she tried to sell to the public the Government's no smoking in public bars legislation. Helped by that association, Mrs Chadwick earned Cabinet promotion last year.

As Prime Minister Helen Clark said later: "No one's complaining now", adding the closure of bars and hotels as a result did not occur. And people were probably much healthier. But no good was ever achieved by imposing shock tactics on New Zealanders.

Such moves merely provoke stronger resistance. The soft-shoe approach  `swing low, sweet cheroot' or something it went  was the cunning alternative. Garish advertising appeared in our newspapers, on our television screens and in radio bites at the dire consequences of smoking.

Some 20 years ago in the United States, someone successfully sued a tobacco company over passive smoking, sending a shudder throughout the civilised first world.

Not too many years ago, a court in New Zealand rejected such notions.
Now graphic images are appearing on cigarette packets in a renewed attack on the smoking hog. Pictures of gangrenous toes, diseased lungs and rotting teeth and gums are designed to underscore the consequences of smoking.

We are seeing more of this type of shock-toke advertising. It's happened in road accidents, in boating and hunting. By August 28, retailers should have through statutory requirement phased out text only warnings on cigarette packets. From  that point, you'll get the picture.

- © Fairfax NZ News