Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Researchers have found the introduction of graphic labels on cigarette packs in Canada led to a 2.9 to 4.7 percent drop in smoking rates.
The same drop in the U.S. would mean 5.3 to 8.6 million fewer smokers in the country.
Researchers from University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Waterloo studied smoking rates in the U.S and Canada over a nine-year period before and after the labels were introduced in Canada, also accounting for the price of cigarettes.
They found that the Food and Drug Administration's calculations for the drop in smoking rates for Canada was inaccurate.
The FDA, which uses a "regulatory impact analysis" to gauge the effectiveness of the Canadian initiative, estimated only a 0.088 percent drop in smoking rates.
Lead author Jidong Huang of UIC called the FDA method a "very rudimentary analysis."
Though they have been introduced in more than 40 countries, graphic warning labels are not in use in the U.S. The tobacco industry challenged an FDA warning label requirement, and a U.S. Court of Appeals found that the agency lacked evidence that such labels would reduce smoking rates.
The FDA should “adopt a standard methodology in doing their regulatory impact analysis that is statistically sound and validated by social scientists,” said Huang
The researchers hope their findings will support a new FDA proposal for introducing graphic warnings on cigarettes in the U.S.
[University of Illinois at Chicago]
