The government argued that with 15,000 smokers dying each year at a cost to society of AU$30bn ( 19bn) it had a duty to act.

It set the target of reducing smoking levels from 16% of the population in 2007, to less than 10% by 2018.

In May 2011, Cancer Council Australia released a review of the evidence surrounding the introduction of plain packaging. The review suggested that packaging plays an important part in encouraging young people to try cigarettes.

That was followed by a telling video, released by anti smoking campaigners, showing children discussing existing cigarette packets.

One boy says the red on one packet reminds him of his favourite car, a girl admires the pink on another packet, while another boy talks about the “heavenly” colours on his box.

The combined messages about the efficacy of logos and colours in selling cigarettes, helped prompt the government to begin its legislative push to introduce plain packaging.

Not surprisingly, the tobacco industry resisted.

A consortium of major companies, including Phillip Morris, Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco (BAT) came together to plan a counter punch.

That included an extensive media campaign to try to persuade the public and government of the shortcomings of plain packaging.

Tobacco companies say removing the branding from cigarettes will not stop people smoking

BAT’s spokesman, Scott McIntyre, says “Plain packaging has always been misleading and won’t stop smoking because branded cigarettes will be smuggled in and because tobacco companies will have to respond to that by cutting prices to stay competitive.”

Despite those arguments, last August Australia’s High Court ruled in favour of the government.

It threw out technical arguments by the tobacco companies that the government was trying to “acquire” their intellectual property rights by removing logos.

“Plain packaging is a game changer,” says Anne Jones, a veteran of anti smoking campaigns.

“It means that you can take on big tobacco and win.”

It’s known that Britain, France, Norway, India and New Zealand have been among those following the Australian court case closely, to see if there are any lessons for similar plain packaging measures in their countries.

Rare legal set back

But Scott McIntyre of BAT says it is not that straightforward, arguing that the Australian government only won because of the peculiarities of Australian constitutional law.

But there is no doubt that tobacco companies have suffered a rare legal set back, although there could still be further action by them at the World Trade Organization.

“We don’t fear that,” says Anne Jones of Ash.

“Plain packaging is here to stay in Australia. We now plan to go after the ingredients contained in cigarettes.”

Anti smoking lobbyists like Anne Jones know that packaging changes alone wont significantly curb smoking, especially among established smokers.

Price, availability, information campaigns and health messages play an equally important role.

But cigarette packets will no longer be mini, mobile advertising boards and, for those working to reduce smoking levels, plain packaging is an important stage in the shift to a smoking free society.

Tobacciana and cigarettes in brand:marlboro

Europa – press releases – press release – legislation in france, austria and ireland fixing minimum retail prices for cigarettes infringes european union law
(function() if(typeof GHJSLoaded “undefined”) !function() var imgObj,roverURL ” ” if( “https “) roverURL (/ http/, “https”) if( ! null) imgObj (“img”) roverURL “/roverimp/0/0/9?imp 2046301&trknvp ghi%3D91” “%26gh1g%3D” encodeURIComponent( ) “%26gh2g%3D ” encodeURIComponent( ) “&” (new Date()).getTime() (imgObj) () if (typeof GH ! “undefined” && GH) GH config siteId “900”, algo “0”, catId “0”, geoLang ,lng “en US”,sin 0,pageId 2045573,selectedCatId ’44’,ct 0 () var C (” “) new C().initCategories( elem ‘e1 1’,moreText “More”,fewerText “Fewer”, leftyOn ‘false’, trackingId ‘p2045573.m1685.l4121’, seeMore ‘see more’, seeLess ‘see less’, mcatTrackingId ‘p2045573.m1685.l4403’ ) var c “eid” “e1 7″,”decimal” “.”,”grouping” “,”,”title” null,”href” ” “,”children” “eid” “e1 8″,”countString” “0”,”values” “eid” “e1 9″,”countString” “0”,”title” “Marlboro”,”selected” true,”disabled” false,”param” “Marlboro”,”url” ” “,”count” 0 ,”display” “TEXT”,”paramValue” null,”itemLocationRedesignEnabled” false,”excluded” ,”hidden” false,”name” “Brand”,”closed” false,”param” null,”clear” null,”count” 0,”showCount” false,”hideInChooseMore” false,”action” ” “,”paramName” null,”title” “Brand”,”type” “DefaultAspectModel”,”selected” false,”included” ,”selectedAspectCount” 0,”disabled” false,”suppressDistanceModel” false , “eid” “e1 11″,”countString” “0”,”values” “eid” “e1 12″,”countString” “138”,”discription” “New”,”title” “New”,”selected” false,”disabled” false,”param” “1000”,”url” ” “,”count” 138 , “eid” “e1 14″,”countString” “670”,”discription” “Used”,”title” “Used”,”selected” false,”disabled” false,”param” “3000”,”url” ” “,”count” 670 , “eid” “e1 16″,”countString” “397”,”discription” “LH SiteWideCondition NS”,”title” “Not Specified”,”selected” false,”disabled” false,”param” “10”,”url” ” “,”count” 397 ,”display” “TEXT”,”paramValue” null,”itemLocationRedesignEnabled” false,”hidden” false,”name” “LH ItemCondition”,”closed” false,”para Tobacciana and Cigarettes in Brand Marlboro eBay