Health officials are hoping the introduction of standardised tobacco packaging will help reduce the number of children in the borough taking up smoking.
From this Sunday (21), Cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco will no longer be sold in packets with the familiar colours and branding smokers instantly recognise.
Instead, they will appear in standard packaging with the same green-brown colour, and containing graphic pictures and health warnings on the side. The only way to differentiate between brands will be the product name but this will also be uniform – appearing in the same font and size.
The new regulations came into force in May 2016 and gave tobacco companies a year to make sure that all packets on sale in the UK complied with the changes.
It is hoped that the move will help to reduce the numbers of under-18s taking up smoking.
Alison Challenger, director of Public Health at Nottingham City Council, said: “We fully support these proposals and hope that they will complement the work we have been doing for many years to reduce the harm caused by smoking.
“A large part of our tobacco strategy in Nottingham focuses on a vision to create a smoke-free generation and, specifically, to take smoking out of the sight of children.
“Standardised packaging has been shown to be very effective in Australia, where it was introduced in 2012. Rates of smoking among under-18s have fallen away further since, and that is so important in terms of breaking generational cycles of tobacco use. An additional benefit was that many long-term smokers started to question their habit and were motivated to quit.
“We have great support networks in place in Nottingham through stop-smoking services like New Leaf which can help people to quit, but it’s just as important to try to stop them taking up the habit in the first place. Standardised packaging can help us to achieve that.”
Other changes due to be introduced this weekend include:
- Cigarettes will no longer be sold in packs of 10 – the minimum will be 20
- Roll-up tobacco will be sold in minimum pack sizes of 30g
- The cheapest pack of cigarettes will cost £8.82
- Menthol cigarettes will begin to be phased out over the next three years
- Some flavoured cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco, including fruit, spice, herbs, alcohol, candy and vanilla, will be made illegal
