The impact of eliminating the global illicit cigarette trade on health and revenue

Joossens, Luk; Merriman, David; Ross, Hana; Raw, Martin

doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03018.x

Cited by 135 publications

(165 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

155

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…It was also not possible to verify whether the displayed health warnings were fake or if the indicators of tax paid were counterfeit, and therefore it is possible that some packs coded as legal packs were misclassified. In countries such as Russia, Brazil and Indonesia, which have been reported to have high rates of illicit cigarette trade 4, we would have expected to find illicit cigarettes in the retail environment. This suggests that illicit trade is kept separate from the retail environment or that it is more difficult to identify illicit cigarettes in those countries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Illicit trade is, by its nature, difficult to estimate. A 2010 study estimated illicit cigarettes as accounting for 11.6% of the global, 16.8% of low‐income and 9.8% of high‐income countries’ cigarette consumption 4. The growing attention placed on illicit trade is evidenced by the recent adoption of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control's Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products which lays out strategies governments can use to eliminate illicit trade of tobacco products 5 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, a mini‐survey in Vietnam found that smuggled UK‐produced 555 packs were more expensive than Vietnamese‐produced 555 packs, purportedly because foreign cigarettes are perceived as being of higher quality 12. Other research shows that the overall level of smuggling of cigarettes is higher in countries that have lower cigarette prices 4.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the lack of systematically collected data on cigarette prices, user surveys [such as the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS)] and extrapolations have been used to estimate prices paid 4, 13. One study using data from the Cigarette Price and Retailer Survey examined cigarette pricing in Southeast Asia based on in‐person surveys of retailers 14.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

An analysis of purchase price of legal and illicit cigarettes in urban retail environments in 14 low‐ and middle‐income countries

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background/AimsTo estimate and compare price differences between legal and illicit cigarettes in 14 low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC).DesignA cross‐sectional census of all packs available on the market was purchased.SettingCigarette packs were purchased in formal retail settings in three major cities in each of 14 LMIC: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.ParticipantsA total of 3240 packs were purchased (range = 58 packs in Egypt to 505 in Russia). Packs were categorized as ‘legal’ or ‘illicit’ based on the presence of a health warning label from the country of purchase and existence of a tax stamp; 2468 legal and 772 illicit packs were in the analysis.MeasurementsDescriptive statistics stratified by country, city and neighborhood socio‐economic status were used to explore the association between price and legal status of cigarettes.FindingsThe number of illicit cigarettes in the sample setting was small (n < 5) in five countries (Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia) and excluded from analysis. In the remaining nine countries, the median purchase price of legal cigarettes ranged from US$0.32 in Pakistan (n = 72) to US$3.24 in Turkey (n = 242); median purchase price of illicit cigarettes ranged from US$0.80 in Ukraine (n = 14) to US$3.08 in India (n = 41). The difference in median price between legal and illicit packs as a percentage of the price of legal packs ranged from 32% in Philippines to 455% in Bangladesh. Median purchase price of illicit cigarette packs was higher than that of legal cigarette packs in six countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam). Median purchase price of illicit packs was lower than that of legal packs in Turkey, Ukraine and China.ConclusionsThe median purchase price of illicit cigarettes is higher than that of legal cigarette packs in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia appear to have few or no illicit cigarettes for purchase from formal, urban retailers.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

An analysis of purchase price of legal and illicit cigarettes in urban retail environments in 14 low‐ and middle‐income countries

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore, there was no evidence to suggest that illicit tobacco use will increase after implementation of standardized tobacco packaging, which contradicts the arguments of the tobacco industry. A recent High Court ruling on standardized packaging 41 as well as a review by the Australian Government into its implementation of the measure 42 have exposed weaknesses in the tobacco industry's arguments.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standardized packaging and illicit tobacco use: A systematic review

Haighton¹,

Taylor²,

Rutter³

2017

Tob. Prev. Cessation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

INTRODUCTION To systematically review the evidence regarding the effect of standardized packaging on illicit tobacco use. METHODS Data sources were EMBASE, Web of Knowledge, Scopus, PsycInfo, Medline, and the British Library catalogue, from 01/01/1987 to 28/11/2016. Reference lists of included studies were hand searched for additional papers. Search strategies were based on the terms 'tobacco', 'packaging' and 'illicit'. The search was restricted to English language references. Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts for empirical studies that addressed the topic of standardized packaging and illicit tobacco use. This resulted in 153 full text papers retrieved for screening. Following exclusions, ten papers were included in the review. Two reviewers' extracted data using piloted standardized data extraction forms. Studies were assessed for quality and relevance using CASP. RESULTS There was little homogeneity between included studies, so a narrative synthesis was employed. Of the relevant studies five reported smokers did not intend to or actually purchase further illicit tobacco following standardized packaging, although one suggested a small number of responders to online news felt smokers would be more inclined to purchase illicit tobacco, following standardized packaging. Two studies reported retailers did not intend to or actually increase sales of illicit tobacco following standardized packaging. Finally, two studies reported industry data on illicit tobacco were of poor quality and not supported by independent data. CONCLUSIONS There were few studies examining tobacco standardized packaging and illicit trade, however those available showed no evidence that standardized packaging could lead to increases in illicit trade.

show abstract

References

2016

Smoking Geographies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The impact of eliminating the global illicit cigarette trade on health and revenue

Abstract: The burden of deaths and lost revenue caused by the illicit cigarette trade falls disproportionately on low- and middle-income countries. Eliminating this trade would avoid millions of premature deaths, and recover billions of dollars for governments.

Cited by 135 publications

References 7 publications

An analysis of purchase price of legal and illicit cigarettes in urban retail environments in 14 low‐ and middle‐income countries

An analysis of purchase price of legal and illicit cigarettes in urban retail environments in 14 low‐ and middle‐income countries

Standardized packaging and illicit tobacco use: A systematic review

References

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About