Britain's announcement it may follow Australia's move to plain packaging for cigarettes has blown a hole in the tobacco industry's campaign to oppose it, says QUIT.
UK Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced plans overnight to ban shops from displaying tobacco products and - critically - to begin talks on a broader move towards plain packaging.
QUIT executive director Fiona Sharkie welcomed the development and said it ran counter to claims made in advertisements run by the "Alliance of Australian Retailers".
The alliance was set up mostly with tobacco industry funding last year to publicly fight plain packaging reforms in Australia.
"In the ads the alliance try to create doubt around plain packaging by saying it `was rejected in the United Kingdom`," Ms Sharkie said in a statement on Thursday.
"A costly, extensive consultation on the issue doesn't look like rejection to me.
"... This is exactly why the tobacco companies have been screaming so loud in Australia to have this reform thrown out.
"They knew once one country acted, more would follow."
The UK Government announced its new tobacco control plans on Wednesday to coincide with Britain's annual No Smoking Day.
It intends to ban the display of tobacco products in large shops from April 2012 and in all shops from April 2015.
It would also consult on options to reduce the promotional impact of tobacco packs - including plain packaging.
Ms Sharkie said the announcement showed a growing global momentum towards "unbranded, generic packets with health warnings" for tobacco products, as was proposed to be introduced in Australia in a world first next year.
She said research showed the move to plain packaging made tobacco products less appealing, particularly to young people.
"Research shows teenagers believe the cigarettes will taste worse as well," Ms Sharkie said.
"Plain packaging will stop the tobacco industry from using cigarette packs to recruit new smokers and promote their deadly and addictive products."
The Alliance of Australian Retailers brings together the Service Station Association, Australian Newsagents' Federation and the National Independent Retailers Association.
On its website the alliance states it is "fed up with excessive regulation that is making it harder for us to run our businesses" and the "proposal to mandate plain packaging for cigarettes is the last straw".
"We are supported by British American Tobacco Australia Limited ... Philip Morris Limited ... and Imperial Tobacco Australia Limited," it also says.
