Press release

1 June, 2012

Local MSP backs calls for plain cigarette packaging

Local MSP Duncan McNeil has backed calls by a leading anti-tobacco charity – Ash Scotland – for the tobacco industry to stop targeting young people in marketing tactics designed to encourage them to smoke.

The Labour MSP who convenes the Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee has supported their call for tobacco products to be sold in plain, unbranded packaging to help discourage young people from taking up the bad habit.

Duncan McNeil who successfully changed the law to give Ministers the power to raise the minimum smoking age to 18, recently joined school pupils in Parliament to protest against the cigarettes industries continued attempts to encourage young people to smoke through misleading marketing tactics.  

The Greenock and Inverclyde MSP said;

“The younger you start smoking, the harder it is to stop. I’ve spoken to many people over the years who regret taking up smoking when they were younger. This is why it is vital that we do all we can to discourage people from taking up the habit at a young age. The marketing techniques used by the tobacco industry to encourage young people to smoke are immoral”

“We need the government to do all it can to stop the industry from influencing young people to smoke. The introduction of plain, unbranded packaging would be a step in the right direction”

A joint consultation on plain packaging for tobacco products, from the UK and Scottish Governments, is currently underway and will close on June 11.