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Industry watch
Two-a-pack cigarette packet in Sri Lanka: an affordability experiment by the tobacco industry?
  1. Hiruni Wijesuriya1,
  2. Manuja Niranshi Perera1,2,
  3. Givantha De Silva3,
  4. Peshani Risna Vithanage3,
  5. Periyannan Dineshkumar1,3,
  6. Sameera Lakmal1,3,
  7. Ishara Buddhika Fernando1,3,
  8. Mahesh Rajasuriya, Senior Author1,4
  9. Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) Sri Lanka
  1. 1 Centre for Combating Tobacco, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
  2. 2 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Ragama, Sri Lanka
  3. 3 Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka
  4. 4 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
  1. Correspondence to Dr Manuja Niranshi Perera, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Ragama 11010, Sri Lanka; kmanujanp{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-054981

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    This publication is based on a joint investigation by the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre Sri Lanka and the Centre for Combating Tobacco.

    A new cigarette pack containing only two cigarettes was noticed in the market in October 2018. In Sri Lanka there are no regulations related to the minimum number of sticks that should be in a cigarette pack as of October 2018. The cigarette packs in the local market contained 20 cigarettes up to this point, and it was for the first time in history that the circulation of such a pack was reported. It was first reported in social media on 12 October 2018 (figure 1).

    Figure 1

    The new cigarette packet reported by two individuals via social media (N Rathnayaka, Whatsapped to CCT, 13 March 2018; K Ganegama, Whatsapped to CCT, 13 March 2018). CCT, Centre for Combating Tobacco. (*SL = Sri Lanka)

    We purchased the cigarette pack shown in figure 2 through a volunteer (a regular customer of the shop) from a shop in Colombo 05. The volunteer …

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    Footnotes

    • HW and MNP are joint first authors.

    • Collaborators Chinthika S Perera (Centre for Combating Tobacco), WGS Madhushanka Lakmal (Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) Sri Lanka).

    • Contributors HW and MNP drafted the article. GDS, PRV, DP, SL and IBF did the investigation, obtained photographs and developed the content. MR reviewed and edited the final document. All authors reviewed and approved the publication.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.