News: Plans unveiled for environmental health warnings

Flights > News > # 1243 (05/04/2007)

A New Labour think tank says the Government should introduce cigarette-style health warnings on all advertising for flights to alert consumers to the environmental cost of flying.
A new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) claims that large warnings such as ‘flying causes climate change’ would work in a similar way to the scare tactics used to encourage people to give up smoking.
IPPR head of climate change, Simon Retallack, said: “The evidence that aviation damages the atmosphere is just as clear as the evidence that smoking kills. We know that smokers notice health warnings on cigarettes, and we have to tackle our addiction to flying in the same way. But if we are to change people’s behaviour, warnings must be accompanied by offering people alternatives to short-haul flights and by steps to make the cost of flying better reflect its impact on the environment.”
Flightmapping founder, James Avery, said the IPPR risked losing credibility if it was serious about promoting health warnings on flights.
He said: “We were actually considering doing a ‘health warning on planes’ story for April Fools, but thought the idea was too stupid to be remotely believable. We were all in hysterics when we heard about the IPPR’s plans.
“I have always argued that aviation should cover its full environmental costs, but over the last few months, the lunatics have really taken over the asylum in a rush to come out with increasingly ridiculous policies, which now seem to have more to do with curtailing people's legitimate desires to have fun and see friends and family, than they do with providing any meaningful environmental benefit.”
He added: “The idea that there should be any kind of equivalence drawn between the highly destructive habit of smoking, and the extremely enjoyable and immensely beneficial activity of taking a holiday, is frankly ridiculous.”
A spokesman for no-frills airline Easyjet said there needs to be a more constructive debate about how policies can be used to incentivise airlines to operate the cleanest possible aircraft.
He said: “If the IPPR is actually keen to do something about global warming rather it should direct its attention towards those industries where it can seriously make a difference. Aviation is the red herring of global climate change and focussing excessively on air travel means that serious policies to combat power generation (one-third of global greenhouse gases) are by-passed in favour of policies to address aviation (one fiftieth of global greenhouse gases).”