US smoking rate falls to record low without display ban or plain packaging

Last week it was reported that the smoking rate in the United States is at an all-time low.

New data suggests that just 15.2 percent of American adults are currently using cigarettes on a regular basis.

No-one however has asked how that figure has been achieved.

For example, the rate in America is significantly lower than the UK and Ireland despite the fact that in the US:

• Full product display is allowed
• There are NO graphic health warnings
• Consumer promotion is allowed
• Tobacco taxation is lower

There must be other reasons why the smoking rate has fallen faster in America but it sure ain't gruesome images, hiding a legal product behind sliding doors or punitive taxation.

Meanwhile, what's been the impact of plain packaging in Australia? Tobacco control apologists say the decline in smoking rates in that country since the policy was introduced in December 2012 demonstrates the success of the policy.

We beg to differ and writing on his blog today Chris Snowdon also disputes that argument:

The truth is that tobacco sales fall to record lows in most Western countries every three months because smoking has been going out of fashion for decades …

This downward trend went into reverse in Australia when plain packaging first came in and it only resumed when the government hiked up the price of cigarettes with a tax rise of 12.5% in December 2013 and another tax rise of 12.5% in September 2014.

Furthermore:

The fall in tobacco sales in Britain since Australia brought in plain packaging has been twice as steep as the fall seen in Australia.

Tobacco taxes have risen in Britain during that period, but not as much as they have in Australia. Advertising has been banned in both countries for donkey's years and 'health awareness' is surely similar.

The only significant difference between the two countries' approach to tobacco control is that Australia has effectively banned e-cigarettes and introduced plain packaging whereas the UK hasn't.

You can read the full post here: Plain packaging versus doing nothing (Velvet Glove Iron Fist).

Comments

[Misty]

I remember reading some years ago (way before the smoking ban was even proposed over here), that in the States (where anti-smoking hysteria was already well up and running) there was a big problem in estimating the true number of people smoking State-side, because many people, despite being smokers, simply didn't dare to admit it. So maybe the fact is that the figures represent not the percentage of American smokers, but the percentage of American smokers who are prepared to admit it. Not quite the same thing ....

[nisakiman]

@ Misty

I think you'll find that wherever there is an aggressive pogrom directed at smokers, there will be considerable under-reporting by those who smoke.It's not to anyone's advantage to admit to smoking in that sort of discriminatory climate.

I've mentioned this a number of times, but I see a lot of Brits on holiday here, where smoking is considered a normal and completely acceptable pastime, and of the ones I see in bars and restaurants, I would conservatively estimate that 40% are smokers.