Psychadelic_Paisly
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Tobacco giants in mild war of words
By Phillip Hudson
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission wants tobacco companies to run advertisements admitting they may have misled and deceived smokers by using the words mild and light on cigarette packets.
ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel recently met with tobacco executives and asked them to pay for a community education campaign about the harmful effects of smoking, and to stop using by year's end the terms light and mild.
The tobacco companies said they did not want to make the change until early 2006, when they will be forced to put new graphic health warnings on packaging, a delay Mr Samuel said was unacceptable.
Mr Samuel will also decide in the next few weeks whether the ACCC will launch legal action against cigarette makers for alleged past deceptive and misleading conduct over the issue - potentially starting one of the biggest compensation cases in Australian history.
He said preliminary legal advice "suggests that there is a possible case that they are misleading and deceptive", but he was waiting for further advice.
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The ACCC has seized 97 boxes of documents from tobacco companies and began examining millions of pages from United States court actions to see if there is any relevance to Australia.
Victorian Democrats Senator Lyn Allison raised concern that the ACCC might be "negotiating" with the tobacco companies over the issue and said the regulator should proceed with the court case and immediately take action to stop the use of the words light and mild on cigarette packets.
"It has been established in the United States there is no credible argument against the fact that so-named mild and light cigarettes are any more milder, or lighter, or any less harmful than any other cigarette," she said.
Tobacco companies insist there is a difference in relation to the cigarette paper, the filter and the manufacturing process. They say smokers can tell the difference in taste, and deny they have misled consumers. They also say governments around the world encouraged them in the 1980s to create these products.
Mr Samuel revealed his plans, and the detail of his meeting with the cigarette companies, in previously unreported evidence to a Senate inquiry in mid-August, under questioning from Senator Allison. He told the Senate the ACCC wanted "corrective advertising that advertised to consumers that the descriptors light and mild were inappropriate and may have misled and deceived".
The tobacco industry responded by stating it would discuss correcting any "misunderstanding" in the community, but it did not believe it had misled or deceived smokers and would not apologise.
Mr Samuel said the chiefs of British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Imperial Tobacco had "all agreed in one form or another that, at a point in time, the light and mild descriptors on cigarette packets need to be modified and or removed".
Tobacco companies said there were time delays and costs caused by having to print new packaging, and the ACCC and the Government had been unable to tell them what words should replace light and mild.
Australia's biggest cigarette company, British American Tobacco, which has 45 per cent of the market and makes brands such as Winfield, Dunhill, Benson & Hedges and Holiday, said it had co-operated fully with various government and ACCC investigations.
The company's corporate and regulatory affairs director, John Galligan, said it was happy to discuss how its products were described.
"At all times we maintain our company has not done anything inappropriate with respect to the way we market or describe our products," he said. "Many consumers rely on product descriptions to distinguish between different tobacco brands and different variants within the same brands."
ACCC chief executive David Cassidy told the Senate that if legal action was started, the ACCC would need funding of "tens of millions" of dollars. It is believed some in the Government do not want the ACCC to run the case and would prefer it be left to plaintiff lawyers.
Senator Allison said she feared the Government would not give the ACCC the funds, and had raised the issue with Treasurer Peter Costello on September 9 last year.
"I had a discussion with the Treasurer, who said, 'You can't be serious about suggesting that this Government would want to put out of business the tobacco industry,' " she said.
A spokesman for Mr Costello said the Government had increased substantially the ACCC's budget to deal with its increased workload. He rejected suggestions that the Government directed ACCC prosecutions.
"The ACCC is empowered to prosecute any breach of the law," the spokesman said.
By Phillip Hudson
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission wants tobacco companies to run advertisements admitting they may have misled and deceived smokers by using the words mild and light on cigarette packets.
ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel recently met with tobacco executives and asked them to pay for a community education campaign about the harmful effects of smoking, and to stop using by year's end the terms light and mild.
The tobacco companies said they did not want to make the change until early 2006, when they will be forced to put new graphic health warnings on packaging, a delay Mr Samuel said was unacceptable.
Mr Samuel will also decide in the next few weeks whether the ACCC will launch legal action against cigarette makers for alleged past deceptive and misleading conduct over the issue - potentially starting one of the biggest compensation cases in Australian history.
He said preliminary legal advice "suggests that there is a possible case that they are misleading and deceptive", but he was waiting for further advice.
Advertisement Advertisement
The ACCC has seized 97 boxes of documents from tobacco companies and began examining millions of pages from United States court actions to see if there is any relevance to Australia.
Victorian Democrats Senator Lyn Allison raised concern that the ACCC might be "negotiating" with the tobacco companies over the issue and said the regulator should proceed with the court case and immediately take action to stop the use of the words light and mild on cigarette packets.
"It has been established in the United States there is no credible argument against the fact that so-named mild and light cigarettes are any more milder, or lighter, or any less harmful than any other cigarette," she said.
Tobacco companies insist there is a difference in relation to the cigarette paper, the filter and the manufacturing process. They say smokers can tell the difference in taste, and deny they have misled consumers. They also say governments around the world encouraged them in the 1980s to create these products.
Mr Samuel revealed his plans, and the detail of his meeting with the cigarette companies, in previously unreported evidence to a Senate inquiry in mid-August, under questioning from Senator Allison. He told the Senate the ACCC wanted "corrective advertising that advertised to consumers that the descriptors light and mild were inappropriate and may have misled and deceived".
The tobacco industry responded by stating it would discuss correcting any "misunderstanding" in the community, but it did not believe it had misled or deceived smokers and would not apologise.
Mr Samuel said the chiefs of British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Imperial Tobacco had "all agreed in one form or another that, at a point in time, the light and mild descriptors on cigarette packets need to be modified and or removed".
Tobacco companies said there were time delays and costs caused by having to print new packaging, and the ACCC and the Government had been unable to tell them what words should replace light and mild.
Australia's biggest cigarette company, British American Tobacco, which has 45 per cent of the market and makes brands such as Winfield, Dunhill, Benson & Hedges and Holiday, said it had co-operated fully with various government and ACCC investigations.
The company's corporate and regulatory affairs director, John Galligan, said it was happy to discuss how its products were described.
"At all times we maintain our company has not done anything inappropriate with respect to the way we market or describe our products," he said. "Many consumers rely on product descriptions to distinguish between different tobacco brands and different variants within the same brands."
ACCC chief executive David Cassidy told the Senate that if legal action was started, the ACCC would need funding of "tens of millions" of dollars. It is believed some in the Government do not want the ACCC to run the case and would prefer it be left to plaintiff lawyers.
Senator Allison said she feared the Government would not give the ACCC the funds, and had raised the issue with Treasurer Peter Costello on September 9 last year.
"I had a discussion with the Treasurer, who said, 'You can't be serious about suggesting that this Government would want to put out of business the tobacco industry,' " she said.
A spokesman for Mr Costello said the Government had increased substantially the ACCC's budget to deal with its increased workload. He rejected suggestions that the Government directed ACCC prosecutions.
"The ACCC is empowered to prosecute any breach of the law," the spokesman said.
