Tobacco industry response to a ban on lights descriptors on cigarette packaging and population outcomes

摘要

Objective The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its Guidelines recommend nations ban the use of misleading terms, such as 'light' and 'mild' on tobacco product advertising, packaging and labelling. Many nations, including the USA, have implemented such bans and some have introduced or passed legislation requiring plain packaging on tobacco products. We previously reported that manufacturers in the USA responded by replacing lights terms with colour terms and related colour-coding of packages. This study examines population outcomes and public health impact of the US ban.