LONDON – Cigarette makers and health advocates are squaring off once again in the battle over the United Kingdom’s proposed plain packaging for tobacco products, The Independent reports. A new report by pediatrician Sir Cyril Chantler that will be out this week lays out the health benefits to be gained from plain packaging.

Fifteen months ago, Australia’s plain packaging law went into effect, and in mid-February, New Zealand started the process to enact similar legislation. Meanwhile, the U.K. government has been waiting for several court cases and other attempts to block the rule to resolve before moving forward with its own regulations.

The government continues to push its claims that plain packaging will lower smoking rates and stop youngsters from picking up the habit. Tobacco firms counter that such a move only jacks up the illicit cigarette trade and robs government coffers of taxes.

However, Chantler’s peer-reviewed study allegedly discovered that the tobacco industry has not seen an increase in contraband tobacco trade. The study also goes as far to claim that tobacco companies are in on the smuggling: “There is growing evidence that the tobacco companies are still involved in the illicit trade. There is evidence of significant overproduction of cigarettes in markets such as Ukraine and Belarus and we know these excess cigarettes end up in the illegal market.”

A recent study showed that one in five people admitted to buying illegal cigarettes in Ireland. That report found that the illicit trade cost Ireland’s economy about €1.5 billion annually, including not collecting cigarette taxes.