The introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes in Australia has reduced the appeal of smoking among adolescents and prompted smokers to think about quitting, the most comprehensive research on the legislation to date shows.
Health experts said the research would prompt other countries to adopt similar legislation, as the findings were presented by Cancer Council Victoria at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
In a series of papers published in the BMJ journal Tobacco Control to coincide with the conference, researchers outlined the results of studies and surveys of thousands of Australians carried out before and after plain packaging was introduced in 2012.
The research found that a year after being introduced, standardised packaging was associated with an increase in the number of people thinking about quitting and trying to quit, and that children aged between 12 and 17 found standardised packaging less appealing.
Researchers also found no evidence of an increase in the consumption of illicit, cheap cigarettes as a result of the legislation.
Quarterly figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on 12 March revealed a fall of nearly 3% in tobacco consumption, contributing to a 12.2% annual fall from December 2013 to December 2014.
The chief executive of Cancer Council Victoria, Todd Harper, said the comprehensive research debunked the scare tactics of the tobacco industry, which had lobbied against the legislation by claiming it would increase the black market for cigarettes.
Among the most promising findings was that the packaging was unattractive to adolescents, he said, with researchers finding a reduction in the appeal of four of the five most popular cigarette brands among school students.
“It was really pleasing to see the impact that occurred with young people, remembering that this was one of the main reasons for introducing the law in the first place,” Harper said, speaking to Guardian Australia from the conference.
“Plain packaging has taken away one of the most important marketing opportunities the tobacco industry had to hook a new generation into taking up smoking.
“What this research does is show there’s now a clear case for action by governments to protect their citizens from the harms of tobacco by introducing this legislation.”
Ten countries are contemplating introducing plain packaging. This month the British House of Commons voted to adopt similar legislation to Australia’s.
“We’ll see that number grow rapidly in coming years on the back of this important research,” Harper said.
The president of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, Mike Daube, chaired the government’s expert committee that recommended plain packaging.
He said Australian politicians who voted for the legislation, and health lobbyists and researchers who encouraged them to adopt it, should feel extremely proud.
“This is a stunning vindication for Australia’s world-leading legislation, and consigns the tobacco industry’s desperate counter-arguments to the scrap heap where they belong,” Daube said.
“The outcomes from this meticulous research are even better than we had expected. No wonder the tobacco companies opposed plain packaging so ferociously.
“We now have evidence of falling sales, declining smoking and positive impacts on adults, potential quitters and children. That’s an extraordinary outcome after only two years for a measure that was always aimed at the longer term.”
Daube said he would now like to see a strong, national, anti-smoking media campaign to complement plain packaging and tax increases.
Speaking at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health on Wednesday, World Health Organisation director Margaret Chan encouraged governments to fight legal battles from the tobacco industry.
“Governments wishing to protect their citizens through larger pictorial warnings on cigarette packs or by introducing plain packaging are being intimidated by industry’s threats of lengthy and costly litigation,” she said.
“This is an effort to deprive governments of their sovereign right to legislate in the public interest. We will push back hard.”