UK vote will bolster action - Plain cigarette packaging

THE inevitable challenge from tobacco conglomerates to legislation making plain packaging on cigarettes mandatory cannot be dismissed lightly but it cannot be shirked either.

Earlier this week, President Michael D Higgins signed legislation on plain packaging making Ireland just the second country to do so. Australia was the first, but the news that the House of Commons has voted by a large majority to adopt similar measures from May 2016 must be welcomed.

Not only does the London vote mark another very significant step in process of making tobacco use socially unacceptable, it also means that the tobacco giants are facing an altogether more powerful opposition than heretofore.