Smoke-free environments regulations health warnings

The New Zealand Drug Foundation welcomes the opportunity to make comment on this the second round of consultation. In general we are pleased that the two options for consultation involve the introduction of graphic warnings, and are more than the minimum required under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). It has been noted that countries that implement the FCTC label policy at its highest level (i.e. warning labels of a larger size, containing graphic elements) will experience greater impact, compared to the minimum standard.

Ideally we would like to see health warnings displayed on 50 percent of the front of the packet and 90 percent on the back. This represents a combination of the two options presented in the document. Overseas research undertaken in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States2, has found that that the bigger the warning label, the better.