Plain packs report disregards evidence

In its response to the Chantler Report and the U.K. government’s statement on standardized packaging, Philip Morris International said Sir Cyril Chantler had chosen to disregard the evidence on standardized packaging from Australia—the only country to have implemented it. (In November, Chantler, a pediatrician, chairman of University College London Partners and nonexecutive chairman of the Quality and Clinical Risk Committee of NHS [National Health Service] England, was asked by the government to undertake an independent review of the public health evidence for standardized tobacco packaging.)

“Instead he has based his conclusions exclusively on the same questionable research that failed to make the case for plain packaging when the government found insufficient evidence to proceed with the policy last year,” PMI said.

“Plain packaging has failed to cut smoking rates, has not deterred youth smokers and has been accompanied by a dramatic growth of the black market. In Australia, legal tobacco sales actually rose in the year following the introduction of plain packaging.

“As the government today made clear, Sir Cyril Chantler’s review looked only at one element of the potential impact of plain packaging. The prime minister and the government have committed to look at the wider evidence on the economic, legal and crime impacts of plain packaging.

“The government should not rush to proceed without holding the full impact assessment they have promised.”