title: Consumer understanding of cigarette emission labelling.
abstract: The optimal way to display constituent levels (e.g. tar) on tobacco packaging has not received adequate attention but has important policy implications. Adult smokers and non-smokers (n = 836) were surveyed in France using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing to assess perceptions of constituent levels displayed numerically (brand-specific tar and nicotine numbers from smoking machines and the current format in European Union), descriptively (a short sentence describing chemicals and their health effects but without any brand-specific numbers) or as a pack insert (a card placed on the inside of the pack describing the presence of chemicals and their health effects in more detail, as well as information on cessation). We also assessed perceptions of identically packaged cigarettes differing only on nicotine levels. Displaying information regarding ingredients either descriptively or on pack inserts was perceived as more comprehensible and informative than displaying them numerically. Numeric yields were associated with false beliefs: almost half the sample perceived packs with lower nicotine levels (0.8 mg vs. 0.9 mg) to be safer.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Gestion de Rennes, University of Rennes 1, CREM (UMR CNRS), Rennes and French National Committee Against Tobacco (CNCT), Paris, France. karine.gallopel@univ-rennes1.fr
authors.forename: Karine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gallopel-Morvan
authors.forename: Crawford
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moodie
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.forename: Figen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Eker
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beguinot
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Martinet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054626:Consumer Health Information; D005602:France; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D011356:Product Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D055815:Young Adult; D014026:Nicotiana