Plain packaging on cigarettes will help 300,000 give up
- A major review looked at more than 50 studies involving nearly 1 million people
- Among them was one from Australia which showed a 0.5% drop in smoking rates
- Applied to the UK, researchers said that this would mean 257,000 fewer smokers
- Standardised packaging will reduce the appeal of tobacco and help to save lives
Stephen Matthews For Mailonline
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Plain cigarette packaging will help 300,000 smokers give up the notoriously bad habit, a major review has found.
Experts claim it will drastically reduce the appeal of tobacco and help to save hundreds of thousands of lives.
It comes ahead of new legislation next month that will make it illegal to sell branded cigarettes in the UK.
Experts claim standardised cigarette packaging, where all have the same olive green colour, with the same font, colour, size, case and text appearance, will drastically reduce the appeal of tobacco and help to save hundreds of thousands of lives
The Cochrane Review looked at 51 studies involving nearly one million people on the impact of removing branding from tobacco.
Among them was one from Australia which showed a 0.5 per cent drop in smoking prevalence among participants.
Since 2012, the country has had strict laws in place making it illegal to sell branded cigarette packets.
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Cancer Research UK said this would mean 257,000 fewer smokers in this country if smoking prevalence declined at the same rate.
George Butterworth, the charity’s tobacco policy manager, said: ‘Smoking kills 100,000 people in the UK every year,
‘We support any effective measure which can help reduce this devastating impact. The evidence shows that standardised packaging works.’
Lead author of the review, Professor Ann McNeill from King’s College London said the findings prove the effects of unbranded cigarettes.
She added: ‘Evaluating the impact of standardised packaging on smoking behaviour is difficult to do, but the evidence available to us, whilst limited at this time, indicates that standardised packaging may reduce smoking prevalence.
UK legislation coming into effect next month will make it illegal to sell branded cigarettes
‘These findings are supported by evidence from a variety of other studies that have shown that standardised packaging reduces the promotional appeal of tobacco packs.’
New packaging laws were introduced by the Government in May 2016, making all cigarette boxes have to look similar.
Manufacturers were told all packets had to be the same olive green colour, with the same font, size, case and text appearance.
The move followed a ruling from the European Court of Justice which approved new rules in a bid to slash the number of smokers across the EU by 2.4 million.
An estimated 700,000 premature deaths are caused each year.
Tobacco giants were given a one year transitional period to allow retailers to sell off old stock, meaning the ban comes into force on May 21.
THE COLOUR THAT COULD STOP YOU SMOKING
It has been described as a dreary mix of tar, vomit and olive, but a shade of drab brown widely regarded as the world’s ugliest colour is helping to save lives.
The unpleasant greeny-brown hue has replaced the brightly coloured packaging that currently adorns cigarette packets in a number of countries.
Officially known as Pantone 448 C, the brown-green tint will be used on tobacco products in several countries after it was picked out by a marketing company as the colour most likely to put off buyers.
Governments in the UK, France and Ireland all said they plan to follow Australia’s example to use the colour as part of measures to ‘standardise’ tobacco packaging.
It is likely that many other countries will also follow their lead by adopting the unattractive shade for its lack of appeal.
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