Australia introduces plain packaging for cigarettes, bans company logosDecember 1, 2012 - 19:55 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Australia has become the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes. From now, all tobacco company logos and colours will be banned from packets, BBC News repoted. They have been replaced by a dreary, uniform, green/brown, colour accompanied by a raft of anti-smoking messages and photographs. The only concession to the tobacco companies is their name and the name of the brand variant in small print at the bottom of the box. "This is the last gasp of a dying industry," declared Australia's Health Minister Tanya Plibersek. Anne Jones of the anti-smoking group Ash (Action on Smoking and Health) agrees. "Plain packaging has taken the personality away from the pack", she says. "Once you take away all the colour coding and imagery and everything is standardised with massive health warnings, you really do de-glamorise the product." Cigarette packets were practically the last platform for tobacco companies to advertise themselves. Commercials on Australian television and radio were banned in 1976. Newspapers followed in 1989. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Get Started: An educational platform for young startuppers The Get Started program which operates in two phases is an important platform for young startuppers. Byblos Bank Armenia celebrates Students' Day with scholarship recipients YSU students who received scholarships from Byblos Bank Armenia gathered in a casual setting to meet with the Bank's CEO, Hayk Stepanyan. Azerbaijan extends Rune Vardanyan’s arrest by 5 months A court in Azerbaijan has extended the arrest of former Nagorno-Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan by five months. Armenia border residents dissatisfied with delimitation Residents Kirants are dissatisfied with the results of the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. |