The plain packaging debate has certainly moved up a gear. In
South Africa, Professor Owen Dean of Stellenbosch University
addressed an open letter to the Health Minister, Dr Aaron
Motsoaledi, which was published in Business Day. In the letter,
Dean called on the minister to reconsider any ideas he may have for
plain packaging measures, in other words measures that place
limitations on the rights of tobacco companies to display their
trade marks on their products. The minister has, of course, made no
secret of the fact that he favours plain packaging legislation,
ever since the Australian High Court held that Australia's
plain packaging legislation - which requires tobacco companies to
sell their products in olive green packs, which contain graphic
health warnings and the brand name (without stylisation or logo) in
very small script - is not unconstitutional.
