Australian Medical Association

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, today urged all Senators to back the Plain Labelling of Tobacco Packaging Bill, which was introduced into Parliament today by Senator Steve Fielding.

Dr Pesce said plain packaging for cigarettes, which carries strong warnings about the health risks of smoking, is AMA policy.

The growing number of Australians at risk of serious chronic diseases from obesity, smoking and excess alcohol use is a major health challenge facing Australia. This AMA Policy Brief, Preventing Obesity, Smoking and Excess Alcohol Use, summarises some key measures that the AMA believes should be given priority in a National Preventative Health Strategy, including support for the preventative role of doctors and implementation of a number of targeted community-level measures.

South Australia has the dubious distinction of receiving the AMA’s annual Dirty Ashtray Award for the Australian State or Territory that made the least progress on combating smoking during 2008.

AMA Federal President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, today used the eve of World No Tobacco Day to announce the results of the AMA/Australian Council on Smoking on Health (ACOSH) National Tobacco Scoreboard.

The scoreboard allocates points to each State and Territory, over a number of categories, including legislation, to track how effective governments have been at combating smoking over the previous 12 months.

At the other end of the scale, Victoria was ranked as the best performer on the 2008 National Tobacco Control Scoreboard.

This submission responds to the options for prevention of obesity, smoking and harmful alcohol use that are explored in the National Preventative Health Taskforce discussion paper - Australia: The Healthiest Country by 2020. The submission emphasises the crucial role of doctors in providing preventative health care.

As Christmas approaches, the AMA is putting the challenge out to all smokers to give their family and friends the best present ever – quit smoking.

“Top of the list of gift ideas has got to be making a commitment to your family, and to yourself, to quit smoking in 2009,” said AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua.

Youth Health: Smoking

AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, today announced the winners (and losers) in the 2008 AMA/Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH) National Tobacco Scoreboard.

The Scoreboard allocates points to each State and Territory over a number of categories, including legislation, to track how effective each Government has been in combating smoking over the previous 12 months.

With scores of 71 points, Western Australia and Queensland are the joint winners for 2008.

This position statement details the harms of tobacco smoking and the measures needed to increase cessation and reduce initiation of tobacco use.