Cigarettes, with an average tar content of 50.3 mg per cigarette, have been withdrawn from sale in Darwin after Australian Competition and Consumer Commission action.
Lay and Sons Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Asian Importer-Exporter and Company, has withdrawn several brands of cigarettes including Professional Gudang Garam Filter Kretek cigarettes ('Gudang Garam Professionals') from sale after advice from the ACCC that they fail to meet the requirements of the Consumer Product Information Standard for Tobacco.
Gudang Garam Professionals purchased by the ACCC yielded the following average tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide levels:
Tar yield 50.3 +/- 4.4 mg per cigarette Nicotine yield 2.11 +/-0.16 mg per cigarette Carbon monoxide yield 33.1 +/- 3.4 mg per cigarette
Not one of the packets of cigarettes disclosed these levels, as required by law. Consumers were therefore unable to make an informed choice as to the dangers they may risk in smoking these cigarettes. In addition, the cigarettes failed to carry other health warnings as required by the standard, such as "Smoking when pregnant harms your baby' and "Smoking causes heart disease".
These cigarettes have a pleasant aroma of cloves and there is a chance that consumers may be under the mistaken impression that they are less harmful than other cigarettes. Consumers have a right to accurate information upon which to base their purchasing decisions.
"This contravention is of particular concern to the ACCC as 'clove' cigarettes have substantially higher levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide in comparison to other brands of cigarettes available on the Australian market, Acting ACCC Chairman, Allan Asher said today. "As such, consumers are not being provided with the appropriate health and safety information specified by the Act and Regulations."
Lay and Sons, who have cooperated fully with the ACCC, gave a court enforceable undertaking to cease supplying cigarettes which fail to meet the standard and to ensure in the future that all cigarettes supplied by them meet the standard. Refunds will also be available for consumers who wish to return the product to Lay and Sons.
The ACCC acknowledges Lay and Son's cooperation in achieving a suitable outcome in this matter.
