[Intl-tobacco] Australia: double standards in labeling

[Robert Weissman]

Smoking kills, but not so much overseas - The Australian
Wednesday, 20 June 2001

By CLAIRE HARVEY

CIGARETTES made in Australia by locally-based tobacco companies are being
sold overseas without the 100-word health warnings required under
Australian law.

Instead, much smaller warnings are printed on cigarettes exported to
Pacific nations by multinational tobacco giants Philip Morris Australia
and British American Tobacco Australasia.

World Health Organisation scientist Harley Stanton bought packets in
Nauru, where there are no legal requirements for health warnings, for
between $2.30 and $2.80. The same cigarettes cost up to $8 a pack in
Australia.

The Benson & Hedges packs, made in Australia by BATA, say "Smoking damages
your health", a notice similar to those printed on Australian-sold
cigarettes before tougher warnings were introduced in 1995.

Peter Jackson and Alpine cigarettes, made in Australia by Philip Morris,
bear US-style warnings: "Quitting smoking now greatly reduces risks to
your health" or "Smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and
may complicate pregnancy".

"The tobacco companies are not breaking any laws but I think they are
behaving irresponsibly," said Dr Stanton, of WHO's Western Pacific
Regional Office in Manila. "They have a duty of care to provide the
fullest warnings they can."

Dr Stanton said Australian tobacco companies also sell cigarettes in
Kiribati and Solomon Islands that did not comply with Australian
regulations, and market locally produced cigarettes in Papua New Guinea
and Fiji that only carry the warnings required under local laws.

The tobacco companies say the warnings are legal and responsible.

"We don't believe we have to subject the rest of the world to Australian
warnings," a BATA spokesman said. "We are convinced people are already
aware of the risks of smoking. Our warnings comply with the local laws in
every country where our cigarettes are sold, and where there are no local
laws, we print an international warning."

Philip Morris said it printed clear and readable warnings on all products
and company policy was that quitting smoking was the best health option.

A typical packet of cigarettes sold in Australia reads on the front:
"Smoking when pregnant harms your baby", "Smoking Kills" and "Smoking is
Addictive".