ISN’T everybody now agreed that smoking is not a healthy option? So it is a mystery why an MP advocates caution on measures to stem the flow of youngsters taking up the habit. Some 270,000 children start smoking every year.

Paediatrician Sir Cyril Chandler’s report finds that having plain packaging would be “likely to contribute to a ‘modest but important’ reduction in smoking”. Wouldn’t this be a welcome step on the path to eradicating tobacco-dependency?

David Nuttall MP thinks not. First, he says plain packaging could create a ‘mystique’, a ‘forbidden fruit’ effect. Cigarette companies spend a fortune on branding as do confectioners; they seem to do well without plain packaging. Youngsters would be more mystified why anyone would urge restraint with the sheer volume of damning evidence against smoking.

Mr Nuttall sites financial reasons for holding back, “Compensation will have to be paid for taking the companies’ intellectual property rights”. Why should we have to compensate companies for intellectual property rights when they sell a product which is proven to be detrimental to health and has cost our NHS a fortune? Intellect seems in short supply.

Politicians would serve us better by reforming laws which allow lawyers to earn money from defending companies whose damaging products continue to blight the lives of millions.

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