Letters
Ethics
Volume 200 - Issue 6

The association between tobacco plain packaging and Quitline calls

Author:  Roger S Magnusson

Med J Aust 2014; 200 (6): 314-315. || doi: 10.5694/mja14.00065
Published online: 7 April 2014
Government should take the lead in trialling and evaluating new strategies for tackling disease prevention
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To the Editor: Young and colleagues report that the introduction of plain tobacco packaging led to a sharp increase in calls to the New South Wales Quitline service, reaching a 78% relative increase after 4 weeks, with a sustained, projected impact over 43 weeks.1 Their study illustrates, first, the immediate benefits that governments can expect when legislating for larger graphic warnings and a standardised display of tobacco brand information in plain packaging.

Second, the study by Young and colleagues shows that it is vital for governments to adopt a “learning by doing” approach,2 trialling new, regulatory strategies for reducing risk factors for costly and preventable diseases that complement educative and social marketing strategies. If governments insist on cast iron proof of impact for new interventions that have not yet been trialled, progress will grind to a halt. The path to longer and healthier lives requires innovation, refined by rigorous evaluation and ongoing monitoring of net effects.

Third, this study illustrates how the tobacco industry has become a useful “canary in the mineshaft”, through its predictable, vociferous opposition to policies that are likely to be effective. In the words of one tobacco industry spokesperson:

We believe that there’s actually no proof that [plain tobacco packaging] is going to work and in the end it could end up costing taxpayers billions of dollars.3

But if plain tobacco packaging will not achieve its goal of reducing smoking, why would the industry spend shareholders’ money on a doomed High Court challenge?4 Why the national advertising campaign conceived by Imperial Tobacco Australia featuring “nanny” — that public health advocates will remember with delight for many years to come (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlho9i4dgXs)?

Plain tobacco packaging legislation is great news for public health, and also, let’s not forget, a credit to Australian parliamentarians.

Author

  • Roger S Magnusson1
  • 1. Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.

Correspondence: roger.magnusson@sydney.edu.au

Competing interests

No relevant disclosures.

References

View this article on Wiley Online Library

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