Plain Green and What It Can Mean for the Health of Australians
I know that we, Australian Chiropractors, are well-known for the health articles in which we write about a wide variety of health issues. Lifestyle, of course, has a lot to do with how healthy a person will be and how long they will live. And, there isn’t a person who is able to read, or at least listen to the news, who doesn’t know that smoking cigarettes is a health threat. There just isn’t an upside to smoking, no matter how you look at it, and no matter how you package it. And, though I try not to take a political side most of the time, I have to ask the question: What in the heck is wrong with Tony Abbott? In his refusal to back plain packaging for cigarettes, he appears to be a man divided against himself since, as former health minister, he was responsible for beefing up the health warnings on cigarette packets in the first place!
Just because Mr. Abbott “isn’t convinced” that plain green packets with graphic health warnings will help reduce smoking doesn’t mean it’s not worth a try when smoking kills 19,000 people each year and costs Australia over $20 million dollars annually. With so much to gain and nothing to lose but “big money branding,” I say it’s time for Mr. Abbott to come clean about where his allegiance lies.