Like Australia, the first country to have introduced neutral packages, France will implement this measure to fight against smoking. Same size, same color, same typography, no logo, all packages will be the same. The brand name will appear very small. Australia imposed in 2012 neutral packages covered with 80% shock images and health warnings. Since this position, the price of tobacco has not fallen and counterfeiting has not increased. It was followed by Ireland and the United Kingdom.
“In Europe, France is the bad student in the fight against tobacco, which kills 73,000 per year”, recalled Marisol Touraine the Minister of Health before the Committee of Social Affairs.
While this measure appears to be effective in quitting smoking, it does not unanimity among the French. The figures of an OpinionWay poll carried out in September 2014, for the daily Metronews speak the same.
Indeed, the majority of French people surveyed (77%) think that this measure is ineffective, whether they are smokers (82%) or non-smokers (76%). Cigarette addicts even claim that they will smoke as much, regardless of their age. 88% of those under 35 and 90% of those over 50 will not change their habits and will continue to buy their package.
Tobacco in numbers
In France, tobacco consumption, which had decreased from the 1970s, has increased since 2005, especially among women and in disadvantaged socio-economic classes, reaching nearly 34% of adults, according to the National Institute for Public Health Surveillance.
Cigarettes kill 200 times a day in France and lose between 10 and 15 years of life without health problems for each smoker.
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Read also:
Infographic: 10 years of tobacco control
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Nicotine: soon an anti-tobacco vaccine
