KEY POINTS:
Ugly images of diseased lungs and gangrenous toes will adorn the front and back of cigarette packets, but the Government is being criticised for not using the shock tactic fast enough.
The graphic pictures - as used in Australia and Canada - will be required to cover 30 per cent of the front of cigarette packets and 90 per cent of the back from early 2008, replacing existing text warnings.
Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor said yesterday that the Government had not seen the reduction in smoking that it wanted from the text warnings.
He hoped the new tactic would reduce the estimated 24 per cent of New Zealanders who smoke closer to a target of 20 per cent, and possibly even further.
"They are horrific images, but they are what happens to people who smoke in this country," Mr O'Connor said.
Anti-smoking campaigners welcomed confirmation of the picture warnings, but questioned the length of time tobacco companies have been given to comply.
All tobacco products manufactured for sale in New Zealand must meet the new labelling regulations by February 27, 2008.
Once the labelling requirements come into force, retailers will have six months to sell existing cigarettes containing old warnings.
Anti-smoking lobby group Ash said the timeframe was too long.
"It will be mid-2008 by the time the picture warnings hit the shops," Ash director Becky Freeman said.
She said pictorial warnings were not a new idea, and had already been implemented in other countries.
"The New Zealand tobacco industry has the technology to print the new packets within weeks," she said.
The Government consulted the tobacco industry before deciding on the timeframe.
British American Tobacco NZ spokeswoman Susan Jones said that far from being a luxury, the timeframe presented a challenge to the company.
She said the company - which manufactures for New Zealand out of Australia since the closure of its Napier factory this year - had a "very high quality" print process.
A change of the magnitude of the pictorial warnings meant new cylinders needed to be engraved and a large amount of tobacco product packaging had to be redesigned.
"There are some things you just can't shortcut," she said.
The task was not made easier by manufacturing in Australia because the artwork for New Zealand was separate, she said.
Ms Jones also sought to counter speculation that tobacco companies might try to circumvent the new laws, using tricks such as selling packet holders or having small packets within a larger outside box.
"Suggestions that we are going to get around this are totally incorrect," she said.
Tobacco companies argued during consultation with the Government that smokers were already well aware of the risks involved with their habit.
But Mr O'Connor said that he thought the gruesome images would bring a new level of awareness for many smokers and the people around them.
In Australia, introduction of the images triggered a rush of smokers to telephone hotlines set up to help them quit. Asked if there were any plans to introduce such hard-hitting measures for alcohol, Mr O'Connor said there weren't any proposals being worked on "at this stage".
"But over time, perhaps the public might expect that," he said.
The Smokefree Coalition welcomed the introduction of pictorial images on cigarette packets, but argued they should be larger than those the Government had decided on.
The coalition would press on with seeking further regulation of the sale of tobacco products.
"We look forward to the day when tobacco product display is prohibited in New Zealand, and all tobacco is sold in plain packaging containing only health warnings," coalition director Mark Peck said.
NZ smokers
* About 24 per cent of NZ adults smoke.
* For Maori and Pacific Islanders, the rates are approximately 47 and 29 per cent respectively.
* About 4500 New Zealanders die each year from smoking-related diseases.
* One in two New Zealand smokers dies early as a result of smoking and each of those who die early loses, on average, 13 years of life.
