Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thousands of people in Ireland die every year because of smoking. Any measure that seeks to reduce the levels of smoking has to be welcomed. This Bill will bring Ireland into compliance with the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union on minimum pricing.

The Bill proposes that all cigarette packaging be of a standard shape and size and be brown in colour, that all distinctive marks be removed from packs and that the text on the packs be in a standard font. The objective of plain packaging measures is to reduce the number of smokers and to improve our public health. Any attempt to encourage a reduction in the number of smokers must be supported.

Recent research detailed in the Irish Cancer Society’s report on the crisis of women and smoking in Ireland showed that almost one in three women smoke. More women in Ireland died of lung cancer than breast cancer in 2011. For a six-month period in 2010 there were more women attending St. James’ Hospital in Dublin with lung cancer than there were men. That is hardly surprising when one in three females smoke. This statistic stands despite decades of preventative health education programmes and the millions of euro spent on anti-smoking advertising. The sobering fact is that one in two smokers will die of a smoking-related illness and nearly every one of us has seen a life sucked away or squandered through tobacco addiction. It is a dreadful development and has not happened by chance. Tobacco companies targeted women at a time when men began to respond to public health campaigns by giving up cigarettes. The tobacco industry is still engaged in sophisticated social marketing in order to increase the appeal of cigarettes to young women. Despite a generation of health promotion along with warnings about the dangers of smoking, the number of young women smoking is growing. This is a sobering testimony to the power of advertising. Nicotine is almost as addictive as heroin and smokers find it extremely difficult to quit. As the Minister said this morning, had we known when tobacco was first discovered what we know now, it would have been banned. More than two-thirds of smokers want to quit but this report shows that there are social and psychological factors that make it hard to quit. Many smokers are aware of the health risks but see it as a way to cope with the pressures of life. Smoking often gives women a sense of belonging to a particular group and the support that goes with it.

Nowadays smoking areas in pubs and restaurants are seen as highly social areas, the places to have the craic. It is no coincidence that 90% of smokers try their first cigarette before the age of 18, an age when fitting in is still paramount. Research has shown time and again that smoking is definitely more associated with young women. Every possible effort must be made to make sure children never take up deadly cigarettes. Very often, smoking starts in school, and it is worrying to see more young girls smoking than boys.

This increases the need to ensure there are concerted efforts to educate all young people, especially girls, about the dangers of smoking. A common misconception is that the occasional cigarette is not nearly as harmful as full-on smoking. Of course it is obviously better to smoke a little than a lot but even this is not without side effects. Laboratory evidence suggests that toxins in tobacco smoke peak at low levels of exposure, increasing the stickiness of the blood, inflaming the arteries and increasing the risk of thrombosis and blood clots that can trigger a heart attack. Even an occasional cigarette is harmful. Cigarettes contain not only tobacco but carcinogens and nicotine, both of which cause direct harm every time one smokes. Recent research carried out by University College London threw up an interesting statistic, namely, that 80% of occasional smokers found they could not stop when they tried to.

Another myth that needs to be debunked is the idea that menthol or slim, "ladies' cigarettes" are less harmful than regular cigarettes. Not so, according to a gentleman called Dr. Ross Morgan, a consultant chest physician and chairman of ASH. Again, this is all to do with marketing. In the past some cigarettes were marketed to women as being beneficial for slimming purposes and it was thought that menthol cigarettes might somehow be better for one. There is no evidence that light cigarettes have any different outcomes in terms of lung cancer, heart disease or stroke than do other cigarettes.

The ban on smoking in the workplace, introduced in 2004, cut tobacco consumption but unfortunately the effect was shortlived. However, as more young people become addicted the figures have begun to rise again. Ironically, smoking areas are now perceived to be the most social areas in which to gather. Nobody expects a quick fix to this problem and it may always be a battle. I hope that measures such as this Bill will help us to win the war.

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