Global News: Dalhousie researcher wins award for work that finds plain cigarette packaging is effective

The award is being presented by Mitacs, a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada for business and academia.

Working with professor Sherry Stewart in Dalhousie’s departments of psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience, as well as the Lung Association of Nova Scotia, Dr. Mohammed Al-Hamdani’s work found that Health Canada’s format for plain cigarette packaging is an effective deterrent for smokers with a predisposed fear of illness.

“Plain packaging is all about diverting the attention of the consumer from the area that would normally include the branding to the graphic warnings,” said Al-Hamdani.

New Health Canada regulations took effect on Nov. 9 that require all cigarette packages to be standardized.

The standardized packages eliminate logos and instead make brown the default colour for tobacco brands.

“At an attention level, all smokers will benefit from plain packaging in terms of increased attention to graphic warnings,” said Al-Hamdani.

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