Tobacco only benefits makers
Da Motta’s arguments about plain packaging are bizarre and return to well-worn and discredited arguments about increased smuggling and cross-border trade. There is a solid body of published international evidence, showing that flashy tobacco packaging is one of the hooks for young people to notice and start experimenting with cigarettes, and early evidence from Australia shows that standardising packaging is already having beneficial impacts there, without the claimed harms to small businesses.
His argument about intellectual property was tried and discredited there too – the Australian High Court found that the government was not acquiring intellectual property but restricting its use for good reasons.
Sheila Duffy, chief executive, Ash Scotland, Edinburgh