Search Here

A new anti-smoking campaign, which starts just a month before all cigarettes have to be sold in plain packaging, is targeting pregnant women and indigenous Australians.

The Australian government has made it compulsory for cigarette packs to be sold with plain packing from Dec. 1.

Meanwhile, according to the latest statistics, one in seven Australian women reportedly smoke during pregnancy, and as of 2009, 37 percent of pregnant teens reportedly smoked.

According to Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek, the program is designed to support women and not shame them into quitting the habit.

''Education and support are the best way forward for helping people give up. We know that tobacco is a very strong addiction,'' Plibersek said. ''I'm sure that most women who are smoking while they're pregnant would like to give up.''

The program, known as ''Quit For You, Quit For Two'', will have ads on TV, radio and in the print and social media. It is aimed at making women aware while highlighting the ill-effects and dangers of smoking during pregnancy.

Other ads will be aiming at the indigenous population and the wider public.

''Tobacco control is the best thing we can do for cancer control. It's very important not to be punishing people for addiction but to help them give up,'' Cancer Council Australia CEO Ian Olver was quoted as saying by Brisbane Times.

About 15,000 Australians die of smoking each year, which costs the country $31.5 billion annually. The government aims to bring down the rate of smoking to 10 percent by the year 2018.

While tobacco taxes and plain packaging play a significant role in cutting down smoking rates in the country, it is also important that the public knows the plus points of kicking the habit, professor Olver said, according to the report.

''The first repair is actually within just days, because the lining of the lung starts repairing itself,'' he said. "Then over time there are slower repair processes and it can take years or decades to return to normal, but every day you quit takes you closer.''