Dr. Ross Morgan:

I thank the Chairman and members of this committee for affording ASH Ireland the opportunity to make this presentation on what I believe is ground-breaking public health legislation. This legislation will contribute to saving thousands of lives in future decades and protecting further thousands of young people from the scourge of tobacco and related nicotine addiction.
The only agenda of ASH Ireland is health. We are the only single-issue anti-smoking advocacy group in this jurisdiction. We have been deeply involved in supporting this and previous governments in the introduction of anti-smoking legislation which contributes to saving lives and protecting people from the harmful effects of environmental tobacco smoke. My colleague Norma Cronin has worked in smoking cessation and advocacy for tobacco-related legislative change for many decades. She has a deep knowledge of the effects of smoking and the industry which promotes it. I am a respiratory physician by profession and on a daily basis I treat many people who are suffering ill health for one reason only - they smoke. This week, 100 people will die from smoking-related lung disease. We must help these people with every avenue open to us. In my view effective legislation is perhaps the most powerful tool in tackling the smoking dilemma. Almost every one of my patients who smoke wants to quit and virtually all wish they had never started. The vast majority started smoking in their teenage years and continue to smoke because nicotine addiction quickly takes hold. It is specifically in this area that we believe the proposed legislation would have most impact.
This legislation is essentially about restricting a specific industry in marketing a unique product which costs this State well in excess of €1 billion annually in treating a raft of related diseases and which kills 50% of those who use it. New users must be recruited and it is young people who are the primary target of tobacco industry marketing. In this context, I wish to offer the committee a number of quotations from tobacco industry representatives. From RJ Reynolds Tobacco we have the following: "Brands which fail to attract their fair share of younger adult smokers face an uphill battle". The quote continues, "if younger adults turn away from smoking, the industry must decline just as a population which does not give birth will eventually dwindle". I offer the committee another quote from this company dating back to 1974. When talking about young people, RJ Reynolds said, "They represent tomorrow’s cigarette business. As this 14-24 age group matures, they will account for a key share of the total cigarette volume for at least the next 25 years".Market research conducted by Philip Morris in 1981 states the following:

It is important to know as much as possible about teenage smoking patterns and attitudes. The smoking patterns of teenagers are particularly important to Philip Morris. The share index is highest in the youngest group for all Marlboro and Virginia Slims packings. At least part of the success of Marlboro Red was because it became the brand of choice among teenagers who then stuck with it as they grew older.

I have another quote from a marketing and design executive representing Lorrilard, another large tobacco firm:

We have been asked by our client to come up with a package design, a design that is attractive to kids. While this cigarette is geared to the youth market, no attempt (obvious) can be made to encourage persons under twenty-one to smoke. The package design should be geared to attract the youthful eye, not the ever-watchful eye of the Federal Government.

The committee should note the number of times that brand, marketing and worryingly, young people and teenagers are mentioned by an industry which tries to convince us that it does not market to and target young people. This is untrue. For every smoker that dies, the tobacco industry is determined to replace that smoker with a young person who will quickly become addicted and thereby continue to smoke for the remainder of their lives. When we consider the current challenges facing our health services, both here in Ireland and elsewhere, the committee will find it interesting to note that in 2006 alone, the five largest tobacco manufacturers in the United States spent $12.49 billion on marketing their products. This marketing is entirely centred and focused on brand promotion and awareness. It goes without saying that if the tobacco industry is spending $12.5 billion dollars on supporting brand awareness and promotion, it is fully aware of the vital importance of branding in enticing young people to smoke and encouraging brand loyalty and continuance of the practice among smokers.
It is clear that the legislation which is now before the committee is running directly contrary to the highly expensive and focused marketing campaigns of an industry which supplies a product which is highly addictive and which is the leading cause of premature death and disability in our country. I expect that in the later stages of the committee's hearings the Irish tobacco industry will enter this room and try to convince the committee that it has a right to market its product and will probably try to say that this important legislation will have no impact. In my view, no industry has the right to market in a normal fashion a product that is known to kill 50% of those who use it. Tobacco is a unique product in terms of addiction, which is often referenced as being similar to the addiction to heroin. It is not a food or beverage that can be life sustaining. It is not a product that has a threshold of effect, a safe level of use or a product that can be used safely in moderation. It is unique in regard to related mortality. No other product on sale worldwide costs the health services such massive amounts of money in treating its related diseases.
I have no doubt whatsoever but that the introduction of plain packaging will make it more difficult for the industry to market its products to young and old. The committee has already heard the evidence in favour of plain packaging from the Australian experience, which I will not repeat. I urge the committee to proceed with this legislation. In our written submission we have put forward a number of proposed amendments under heads Nos. 3, 4, and 14, and we ask that the committee looks positively at these proposals.
The workplace smoking ban was introduced ten years ago, despite the resistance of many interests that decried the legislation and predicted it would fail. Nobody could speak now against the success of that legislation. Ireland can once again take the lead in Europe by putting the health of the nation ahead of the profits of any single industry. The leadership of our legislators is a key element in this. I thank the committee again for the opportunity to address it today.