November 17, 2010 -
Prohibiting retailers from peddling cigarettes as ‘cheap’ or ‘tax-free’ on the internet is the latest step in the Australian Government’s hard hitting and comprehensive action to reduce Australia’s smoking rates.
The Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Amendment Bill 2010 will be introduced into the Parliament today, November 17th and the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon said this legislation will bring restrictions on tobacco advertising on the internet into line with restrictions in other media and at physical points of sale.
Prohibiting retailers from peddling cigarettes as ‘cheap’ or ‘tax-free’ on the internet is the latest step in the Australian Government’s hard hitting and comprehensive action to reduce Australia’s smoking rates.
View by date: For all media inquiries, please contact the Minister's Office on 0409 945 476
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Australia has some of the world's toughest tobacco advertising restrictions and already bans advertising on television and radio, in newspapers and magazines, and at sporting events. Retailers are prohibited from displaying cigarette packets in shops and cigarette packets carry graphic images of cancer and a health warning that smoking causes cancer. "Together with our efforts to mandate the plain packaging of tobacco products from 2012, Australia is on track to have the world's toughest measures against tobacco," Roxon added. "Tobacco use is Australia's single largest cause of premature death and disease, killing 15,000 Australians a year and costing our economy A$31.5 billion." Smoking rates in Australia have been declining since the mid-1970s when the advertising bans first started, down from around 35 percent to 19 percent today.
The Australian Council on Smoking and Health welcomed the move. Council president Mile Daube: "Cigarettes are now being heavily promoted on the Internet, and there are serious concerns that both online advertising and social networking sites are being used to promote tobacco to young people."Reference: Internet Tobacco Advertising to Face New Tough RestrictionsTHE HON NICOLA ROXON MP, Minister for Health and Ageing, MEDIA RELEASE, 11/17/2010; a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/idINTRE6AG0MS20101117">Australia to restrict internet tobacco advertising,
Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Elaine Lies, Reuters, 11/17/2010.
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