France’s health ministry has unveiled tough measures geared at stamping out smoking among young people, with a planned rollout of brandless cigarette packets and curbs on advertising for electronic cigarettes.
Health Minister Marisol Touraine said her anti-smoking plan, to be introduced in stages over two years, aimed to produce France’s first generation of non-smokers by the mid-2030s. Currently, about 30 percent of the population are smokers.
Among the boldest moves is the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes, on which distinctive advertising is banned and the brand is written in small lettering under a graphic health warning.
As in Australia, which pioneered plain packaging in 2012 and has reported a rise in calls to hotlines for people who want to quit, all packets sold will be of the same size and same color.
“We have set an ambitious goal: to succeed in making children born today the first ‘non-smoking’ generation in 20 years,” Touraine said in a statement.
