If the Federal Government has its way, smokers will soon have their cigarette packets covered in dire health warnings, with a drab olive green colour to complement their…internal organs?

The proposed legislation will only allow the cigarette companies’ brands to be displayed in small logos, rather than the huge industry currently in place in which cigarette makers differentiate between brands using a myriad of imagery and colours.

The cigarette makers are watching the legislation closely, as are other countries around the world.  And the federal government may find a fight on their hands, with British American Tobacco spokesman Scott McIntyre saying “The government could end up wasting millions of taxpayer dollars in legal fees trying to defend their decision, let alone the potential to pay billions to the tobacco industry for taking away our intellectual property.”

The legislation is set to be phased in from January 2012, subject to legal challenges.

Watch this space!

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