It's An Open And Shut Case, Amigos

Mexico has posed a question [pdf] to Australia regarding their tobacco plain packaging law.

Mexico invites the Australian authorities to ... Provide the scientific information available in which Australia determined that plain packaging influences consumer behavior, which will contribute to reduce smoking rates

Ooh, ooh, please Sir! I know the answer!

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon admits there is no proof plain cigarette packaging will cut smoking rates.

"This is a world first," she told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

Ms Roxon was responding to her opposition counterpart Peter Dutton, who earlier called for evidence showing plain packaging encourages people to butt out.

"The sort of proof they are looking for doesn't exist when this hasn't been introduced around the world," Ms Roxon said.

Well, that's pretty clear cut. A classic case of policy-based, non-evidential law-making.

Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is a disease - some may even call it a global epidemic - affecting the brains of politicians in otherwise sane nations (and Scotland). It's not about health, you know. Just pure, unadulterated prejudice and spite.

Now is a timely opportunity, then, to remind you that there are just a few days left in which to tell Andrew Lansley that the country which devised the parliamentary system should be setting an example here. Just because a load of dustbowl-dwellers at the arse end of the world want to dispense with scrupulous legislative process in favour of ideological fuckwittery, it doesn't mean that we should do the same.

It has been a lot of fun trouncing the no-marks in the Olympics (err, how's that humiliating losing bet looking Australia? Again?), so let's also thrash the pants off them at running a country with some degree of competence, eh?

Sign up here to give Lansley a quick nudge or submit something more substantial here by August 10th (a preview of the questions is here).

UPDATE: Looks like Roxon hasn't changed her mind since her last admission of the futility of plain packaging.

Plain packaging isn't going to see cigarette sales drop off any time soon, former federal health minister Nicola Roxon says.

"We've been very clear - we haven't made any estimates about the level of reduction that will flow from plain packaging," she told Sky News on Sunday.

Still an open and shut case then, Mexico. There quite simply cannot be any evidence, so crack on.