Anti Tobacco Lobby Group Proposals Unprecedented, Unevidenced Ideological Attack
LONDON, June 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Commenting on the proposals by the anti-tobacco group Action on Smoking and Health for future tobacco control measures Giles Roca, Director General of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association commented:
"This report shows just how draconian and self-serving ASH's agenda has become. Measures such as a complete ban on smoking in cars or a levy on tobacco companies are clearly not evidence based but are simply a case of an anti-smoking professional lobby group trying to find new ways to attack smokers and a legitimate industry. If enacted, these proposals would lose the Treasury billions over the next parliament and would simply provide government funding for this group to continue lobbying the government.
"All this comes on top of the tobacco display ban which has only recently been introduced in small shops, whilst the ban on smoking in cars with children present, banning flavoured cigarettes, small pack sizes and plain packaging of tobacco have yet to be implemented, let alone evaluated.
"Aside from the unwarranted intrusion on individual freedoms, this continued drive to over-regulate the UK tobacco market will simply create greater opportunities for the organised crime groups involved in smuggling on a massive scale. These proposals are an unprecedented, un-evidenced, dogmatic attack on a legal industry that would have hugely damaging consequences."
Share this article