Illegal advts claim results in talks

Press, 18 December 1985, Page 12

Illegal advts claim results in talks

PA Wellington A. claim, that all tobacco advertisements are illegal is to be discussed with government lawyers by the Toxic Substances Board. The claim is by the Consumers Institute. Its director, Mr Dick Smithies, said the Toxic Substances Act defined all forms of tobacco as toxic substances. Regulations under the Act said no advertisement for a toxic substance should directly, or indirectly, state or suggest that the substance was fit for human consumption. Mr Smithies said the Toxic Substances Board clearly had important reponsibilities with tobacco and could make a decisive contribution to “the attack on this major health hazard.”

The board’s chairman, Mr lan Baumgart, said the Consumers Institute’s submission had been received and taken seriously. “We will definitely be considering it. It’s a good submission,” said Mr Baumgart. He said the board had set up a special subcommittee which would consider submissions on tobacco.

The institute has urged the board to recommend to the Minister of Health, Mr Bassett, that tobacco advertising be banned, and larger warnings put on cigarete packets. Mr Baumgart said the board would decide what it would advise the Minister by Februaiy. The board would definitely be taking legal advice on whether tobacco advertising was illegal, he said. “We will be having discussions with Government lawyers.” The Health Department has said it was a matter of legal opinion as to whether tobacco advertisements were illegal.

Asked whether the department would itself test the act in the courts, a

spokesman said the Minister of Health would have to make the decisions. A spokesman for Dr Bassett said he could not comment, but a voluntary agreement between the Government, and tobacco companies, earlier this year had resulted in health waniings twice the previous size on advertisements and cigarette packets, valid until 1987. Meanwhile, the executive director of the Tobacco Institute, Mr Michael Thompson, said cigarette advertisements were legal He said legal opinion sought by the Tobacco Institute was clearly at odds with taht supplied by the Consumers Institute. “Cigarette advertising

does not promote smoking, and we have previously shown that Mr Smithies’ evidence demonstrates quite clearly that cigarette advertising promotes brand switching, or brand loyalty, but certainly does not expand the market “The evidence is the same both in New Zealand and abroad, and it is ironic that tobacco consumption is frequently higher in those countries which promote prohibition by banning cigarette advertising,’’said Mr Thompson. He said he was certain that Dr Bassett would never have agreed to a new advertising code if he thought it breached any legislation, and if he was not happy with the code’s provisions.