Cancer Council of Australia chief executive Ian Olver says a dramatic reduction of cancer deaths is possible, simply with lifestyle changes. Those choices include not smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, eating healthy food and reasonable exercise.

The recent ruling by Australia's High Court which in effect supported the government's decision to require cigarettes to be sold in olive-brown packets seems likely to limit the uptake of smoking by young people, but this is only one component of what should be a far broader approach to improving Australia's overall health.

Estimating the economic cost to Australia of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs is reasonably inexact. It seems the most credible work on this is by Collins and Lapsley, and that data is based on 2004-05 figures. However, it certainly gives an indication of the need to address the use of these drugs.

In summary, in 2004-05, tobacco smoking was estimated to cost Australian society $31.5 billion; the consumption of alcohol, $15.3 billion; and the social cost of illicit drug use was estimated at $8.2 billion. We now need a study of the social cost of junk food.

Whether the plain packaging of tobacco will achieve the aim of making the product less attractive will take some years to determine. Meanwhile, it is fair to ask why purveyors of alcohol and junk food are free to advertise with only limited restrictions. It is not reasonable to argue, as tobacco producers do, that consumption of potentially dangerous products is a matter only of personal choice. As indicated by the Collins and Lapsley figures, poor individual choices are paid for by everyone.

With the known risks of alcohol consumption, Professor Olver says the council supports the National Health and Medical Research Council recommendation that people should limit themselves to a couple of standard drinks a day.

Yet a 2010 study found 28 per cent of males and 11 per cent of females in Australia drank alcohol at levels that put them at risk of alcohol-related harm over their lifetime. It also found 23 per cent of males and nine per cent of females consumed alcohol in quantities that put them at risk of alcohol-related injury from a single drinking occasion at least weekly.

Olver says a disturbing change is that junk food, once a treat, has become part of some people's staple diet. This is particularly the case among those in the lower socio-economic group. With 15.1 per cent of Australians smoking, the rate is among the lowest in the world. The same cannot be said for the abuse of alcohol or the consumption of junk food. So, while governments are commended for leading restrictions on smoking, the economic and human cost of alcohol and junk food deserves similar attention.