I'll pick up on that last point. I beg to differ, Ms. Kothawala. There's compelling evidence, including extensive studies supporting implementation of plain packaging. An updated March 2014 evidentiary overview reviewed 75 empirical studies. That was prepared by University of Waterloo Professor David Hammond for the Irish government.
In the United Kingdom, the Chantler review and the University of Stirling review provided extensive evidence to the same effect. A special issue of the journal Tobacco Control was published in April 2015, with a series of studies on the Australian experience providing yet further evidence. I'm going to quote. This is maybe for you and for Mr. Davidson. I did some research while I was listening. It says, and this is from Australia:
The Department commenced a Post-Implementation Review...of tobacco plain packaging in December 2014 in accordance with the Australian Government’s best practice regulation process. The purpose of a PIR is to assess whether a regulation remains appropriate, and how effective and efficient the regulation has been in meeting its objectives.
The PIR was published on the Office of Best Practice Regulation website on 26 February 2016. The PIR concludes that the tobacco plain packaging measure has begun to achieve its public health objectives of reducing smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke in Australia and it is expected to continue to do so into the future.
The body of studies considered for the PIR show that the tobacco plain packaging measure is having an impact by reducing the appeal of tobacco products, increasing the effectiveness of health warnings, and reducing the ability of the pack to mislead. The studies also provide early evidence of positive changes to actual smoking and quitting behaviours.
The available studies are diverse, peer reviewed and published in leading medical journals.
I could go on. Do you still say, Ms. Kothawala, that there's no empirical evidence to show that plain packaging is effective?