Generic cigarette packs could cut smoking: New study

A new study suggests generic packaging could significantly decrease the number of adults who smoke and lead to a decrease in the number of children who try cigarettes.  

Generic packaging, which does not use brand imagery or promotional text, would reduce the number of adult smokers by 1 percent and the number of children who try smoking by 3 percent, researchers found after evaluating the professional opinions of 33 tobacco control experts.

In the United Kingdom, where approximately 10 million adults smoke, a 1 percent decrease in smokers means about 500,000 fewer people lighting up.

Plain packaging helps reduce smoking rates in young people because it makes cigarettes look less appealing, lessens brand identification , and creates a change in the social norms associated with smoking, the study found.

“Given that the majority of smokers first try smoking in adolescence, the impact on children is of particular importance,” said Rachel Pechey, first author of the study from the University of Cambridge’s Behavior and Health Research Unit.

The experts who participated in the study believe it takes about two years for decreases in smoking rates to start taking effect once a plain-packaging strategy is implemented in a particular country. But the impact of the strategy may well go beyond what tobacco control experts have predicted.

“Despite the consistency of experts’ predictions that plain packaging would reduce smoking rates, many participants felt that the two-year time frame we used was insufficient and did not allow for the full impact of the packaging. This suggests generic packaging could have a greater impact over a longer term period,” Pechey said.

In December 2012, Australia became the first country to implement plain packaging.

The research took the opinions of 14 experts from the UK, 12 from Australasia and 7 from North America on the impact plain packaging would have on smoking habits.

Source: Livescience

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