But, in conclusion: “Establishing the efficacy of the plain packaging policy will take painstaking econometric analysis over a long period of time. So it bothers me, an unrepentant and deliriously avid smoker, not a smidge that Ottawa will likely force cigarette manufacturers to use plain packaging for fags and other tobacco products. This will involve having to untangle the effects of excise increases and changes in smoker behaviour, and substitution to illegal tobacco products. Just don’t buy the bogus claim that plain packaging accounts for the significant reduction of smoking in Australia — first country to introduce such legislation, only country thus far to fully implement the plain packaging rules, and roundly cited by the anti-tobacco evangelists. Their preliminary evidence has shown no empirical support for the alleged health benefits — a drop in tobacco consumption — that can be attributed to plain packaging.

Source: thestar June 02, 2016 20:11 UTC