The national anti-tobacco programme: which measures await you?

What are the measures and the details of the programme presented in recent days by health minister Marisol Touraine to fight smoking in France? Here is a reminder of the range of measures that will concern you directly once parliament has examined the text.

The government wants to strengthen measures already in place. In recent years France has doubled the price of cigarette packs, imposed shock photographs and prevention messages. Selling cigarettes to minors is banned, and smoking is also banned in public places, with areas and zones set aside for smokers. Every kind of advertising for tobacco products is banned as well.

So what measures does the anti-tobacco plan propose?

Plain packs

Since December 2012, Australia has been the only country to have introduced this anti-tobacco measure, and England is also considering it. The idea is to make all packs uniform, in the same colour, without the brand logo or packaging, and to strengthen the warnings and the already graphic photographs of sick people. Australia, the pilot country for the initiative, met fierce opposition from cigarette manufacturers, despite their failed legal challenges. With intellectual property called into question, some countries even took Australia to the WTO, the World Trade Organization. Even so, plain packaging is said to work largely through its lack of glamour, encouraging the wish to stop smoking.

It is therefore the flagship measure of this anti-tobacco plan, due to come into force in 2016.

Generic packs could however cause problems for tobacconists and add to the stigma attached to the trade. Telling packs apart becomes harder, complicating day-to-day sales. Advertising will be prohibited everywhere, including in tobacconists’ shops, visited by « 10 million people a day » according to the minister. Another drawback is that plain packaging would make cigarette smuggling easier still.
Consumers, for their part, could get round the plain look of packs with a cigarette case.

The ban on smoking in the presence of minors

An amendment to the anti-tobacco health law will ban smoking in a vehicle carrying children under 12. The measure is already in force in several countries, including Canada, South Africa, Australia and some American states. Public children’s play areas will also be subject to a ban on cigarette smoking.
The minister wants to change the behaviour of the youngest children, so that tobacco is no longer a « normal » part of their lives. Municipal police will be authorised to « carry out checks on tobacco regulations », Marisol Touraine explained.

Strengthening the ban in public places

The French appear to be broadly in favour of banning smoking in public places such as stadiums, beaches, café terraces and around schools. Several French towns already have restrictions in place, as in Nice where some beaches have become non-smoking. Abroad, cities such as New York, Tokyo and Melbourne already have designated smoking areas along pedestrian streets.

Grim images and shock campaigns

The aim is to persuade smokers to stop, and to that end the INPES, the French national institute for prevention and health education, has produced two advertising films running until 22 October. A third video is online, giving stark figures on consumption worldwide and on the number of deaths linked to smoking.
The photographs on cigarette packs currently in circulation in France are « pretty » compared with those used by our European neighbours. In the United States and Australia, what tobacconists sell looks like a horror film. This increase in shock photographs will apparently have no direct effect on the wish to stop smoking, but it will at least encourage adults not to leave their packs where children can see them, keeping them a little further away from tobacco.

Higher pack prices

An anti-tobacco plan would of course not be complete without an increase in taxes on the price of packs. Although no new rise is officially scheduled at present, the price of a pack in Australia is around 20 Australian dollars (close to 14 euros). Norway and England also have far higher prices than France. It is therefore a measure to be considered in the medium term, especially as the World Health Organization strongly supports an increase, arguing that it is the most effective measure in the fight against smoking.
Again according to the WHO, a 50% rise in taxes would cut the number of smokers worldwide by 49 million over the following three years.

Reforming tobacco distribution in France

One measure put forward is to make buying more difficult for consumers. It is easy today to obtain a pack of cigarettes, with tobacconists on every street corner. The government therefore intends to reform the distribution system for tobacco products so that they are less visible, considering keeping cigarette packs out of customers’ sight, stored in cupboards.

Other measures were presented, such as a tougher fight against counterfeiting, transparency about the cigarette manufacturers’ lobby through a website, funding the fight against tobacco through… the tobacco industry, better reimbursement of certain cessation aids and encouraging doctors to raise awareness among younger people. The e-cigarette is not spared either: its advertising will be limited to points of sale by decree, and vaping will be banned on public transport, in schools and even in the workplace.

Banning smoking in your own flat

This would be the last barrier. An outright ban on smoking at home is currently under study in South Korea. North America already has entirely non-smoking buildings. Co-owners are free to choose and vote on the rules they want to see applied in their building: allowing or banning the cigarette in flats, on balconies and in communal areas. So why not in France?

Have your say on this article.

Which measures do you think could be adopted in the coming months? Would you be ready to stop smoking at home or on a café terrace? Will the next price rise make you give up the cigarette for good?