Plain packaging of tobacco cuts smoking
Cool. What's the evidence for that?
Experts believe that plain packaging of tobacco products would cut smoking, a new study has found.
And why is that?
Because Australia, the first country to implement plain packaging, only did so in December of last year there is no quantifiable evidence as of yet.
Quite so.
Therefore, scientists have used the next best option, the expertise of internationally-renowned tobacco control specialists from around the world.
Ha ha! The next best option is asking the opinion of campaigners for plain packaging?! How very droll.
For the study, 33 tobacco control experts from the UK (14), Australasia (12) and North America (7) were recruited. Professionals in these regions were targeted because these countries are currently considering (or have recently implemented) plain packaging for tobacco products. They were then interviewed about how plain packaging – packaging without brand imagery or promotional text and using standardised formatting – might impact the rates of smoking in adults and children.
Please tell me you're not going to do what I think you're going to do.
The experts estimated that plain packaging would reduce the number of adult smokers by one percentage point (on average) two years after the introduction of plain packaging.
Oh God. I can't bear to watch.
More impressively, they believe that generic packaging would reduce the percentage of children trying smoking by three percentage points (on average) two years after plain packaging is introduced.
Hey, that is impressive. If the people who advocate the policy think it will work, what more proof could we ask for?
Professor Theresa Marteau, Director of the University of Cambridge’s Behaviour and Health Research Unit, who led the study, said...
Stop calling it a study! It's a small survey of your mates' partisan opinions.
“Currently, approximately 10 million adults in Britain smoke. A one percentage point decline – from 21% of the population to 20% – would equate to 500,000 people who will not suffer the health effects of smoking.”
There you have it. Plain packaging will make half a million people stop smoking. The science is settled.
I'm starting to feel embarrassed on these people's behalf.
