Report dismisses industry claims about plain packaging

A report commissioned by Cancer Research UK dismisses the tobacco industry’s claims that the U.K. government’s plans to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes will boost the trade in illegal cigarettes, reports HealthCanal.

According to the report, which was prepared by Luk Joossens, advisor to the World Bank, the European Commission and World Health Organization on illicit tobacco trade, producers of counterfeit cigarettes find all existing cigarette packaging easy to forge, and that introduction of plain packaging is unlikely to cause more counterfeiters to make more fake packs.

Noting that producers of counterfeit cigarettes are able to provide “top quality packaging at low prices in a short time,” Joossens said “plain packaging will not make any difference to the counterfeit business.”

Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco control Jean King said the tobacco industry “has a track record of facilitating smuggling and often says policies that cut smoking will increase smuggling, even though smuggling has been falling for a decade.”