By Andrew Young
education reporter
Dr Kevin Donnelly wants to kill dissent clouding the education packs he has designed with tobacco company money.
The Australian consultant is here to explain the resource packs to Ministry of Education staff and school principals. He hopes they will go into hundreds of New Zealand classrooms.
Dr Donnelly said yesterday that he felt the anti-smoking lobby and some principals were too quick to attack the free packs merely because they were funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris.
Opponents became vocal last week after the New Zealand Herald revealed that the company planned a New Zealand launch of the packs, which address teenage issues and encourage students to make their own decisions.
Dr Donnelly said the packs aimed to discourage students from picking up bad traits such as smoking.
"To my mind I couldn't get any plainer in telling young people that smoking, under-age drinking, racism and bullying were wrong."
He felt the anti-smoking lobby should be applauding the packs because they would help to cut teenage smoking.
Dr Donnelly discounted claims that the packs were a public relations exercise by a company wanting to appear virtuous and responsible.
"No matter who funded it, I would have come out with the same material," he said. "If it was an underhand public relations exercise, I wouldn't have put my name on it.
"It's very emotional. People think cigarettes, cancer, death and then see students [whom tobacco companies] are trying to subvert, but this is quite the opposite. I say, let the teachers judge."
Dr Donnelly said he took on the job for Philip Morris on condition that the company have no editorial or design input.
Many critics were narrowly focused on the brief mention of smoking in the packs when Philip Morris wanted to address much wider teen issues. They included parental relationships, peer pressure, making the right choice and learning to say no.
Dr Donnelly, a former teacher, said he was personally against smoking because it killed people. He had not smoked for 15 years and was relieved his children did not.
A third of Australian secondary schools had asked for the resource packs in the past year and their success would be assessed by an independent body.
He said a planned trial in 15 New Zealand schools would ensure the packs were supported by teachers.
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