Clear The Air News Tobacco Blog Rotating Header Image

May, 2017:

World No Tobacco Day 2017: Why Does It Matter?

World No Tobacco Day 2017 focuses on the links between tobacco use, tobacco control, and sustainable development. Does this mean that tobacco use is more than a public health issue? The answer is an emphatic yes, rooted in robust scientific evidence accumulated over the past five decades and country experiences worldwide. Let me explain.

http://blogs.worldbank.org/health/world-no-tobacco-day-2017-why-does-it-matter

While tobacco products are legal goods offered in the marketplace, their consumption, particularly cigarette smoking, is highly addictive, toxic, and deadly. Nicotine (a chemical in tobacco), tar (a partially combusted particulate matter produced by the burning of tobacco), and carbon monoxide (a colorless, odorless gas produced from the incomplete burning of tobacco) activate multiple biological pathways through which smoking increases risk for diseases of nearly all organs of the body. The WHO just released this week jarring new data – 7 million people a year are killed by smoking and other tobacco use each year, up from 4 million people at the turn of the century. Smokers who begin early in adult life and do not stop smoking face a three-fold higher risk of death compared to comparable non-smokers, resulting in a loss of at least one decade of life.

If global development is lifting lives within and among countries, it should be clear to all of us that ill health, premature death, and disability caused by tobacco use is a major obstacle to supporting the achievement of healthy, educated, productive, prosperous, socially engaged, and happy people. It also undermines economic development, as the total economic cost of smoking is estimated to exceed US$ 1.4 trillion per year, equivalent to 1.8% of the world’s annual gross domestic product (GDP).

So what can be done to further strengthen the global effort to deal with this development challenge?

This year’s World No Tobacco Day offers an opportunity for governments and societies across the world to recommit to implement strategies and plans that prioritize action on tobacco control, building upon ongoing efforts and achievements. The accelerated implementation of all demand-reduction measures, such as regulations to provide protection from exposure to tobacco smoke in public places, and to prohibit misleading tobacco packaging and labelling, as well as price and tax measures, along with raising public awareness of tobacco control issues, outlined in WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) since 2005 has already contributed to the decrease in smoking prevalence in 126 countries from 24.7% in 2005 to 22.1% in 2015. While all the interventions included in the FCTC need to be fully implemented, tobacco taxation demands increased attention and effort, as its implementation lags behind. Around the world, cigarette prices remain too low to discourage consumption. Only 33 countries impose taxes that constitute more than 75% of the retail price of a pack of cigarettes—the taxation level recommended to deter consumption.

Since price plays an important role in smoking and cigarette taxes play an important role in cigarette prices, raising taxes on tobacco products is one of the most cost-effective measures to reduce tobacco use, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where smokers are more price-sensitive. Due to the addictive nature of tobacco products, more than just focusing on quantity of cigarettes consumed, particular attention needs to be placed on examining the impact of prices on smoking initiation, especially among children and adolescents, on quit attempts, and on the fraction of the population that smokes.

In redoubling the tobacco taxation effort, it is important to keep in mind that the positive impacts of higher tobacco taxes that lead to higher prices and reduced consumption extend well beyond direct health gains and indirect benefits such as higher productivity and reduced health care expenditures. As recognized in a recent publication by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), “In many countries, raising tobacco taxes can offer a “win–win”: higher revenue and positive health outcomes…. Of course, countries putting more weight on health objectives could raise taxes even further than the revenue maximizing point.”

Country experiences provide strong evidence that increasing tobacco taxes can contribute to accelerate domestic resource mobilization in line with the objectives set forth in the 2015 Financing for Development Addis Ababa Action Agenda. This is important, as augmenting a country’s tax base is critical to expand the fiscal capacity of governments to fund priority investments and programs, such as universal health coverage, education, safe water and basic sanitation, and road safety, to help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

On this World No Tobacco Day, those of us working at the World Bank Group should also reaffirm our commitment to “walking the walk and not only the talk” to help countries control the development threat posed by tobacco use. The unambiguous Operational Directive 4.76 of 1999 mandates that the World Bank Group does not lend directly to tobacco production, processing, or marketing; provide grants for investment in these activities; or guarantee investments, loans, or credits for these industries. World Bank Group policy advice and technical assistance support tobacco tax increases to protect the population from health risks and to mobilize additional fiscal revenue.

To advance the tobacco control agenda into the future, we should be guided by the realization that taxing tobacco is not only good for public health, but it is a fundamental policy measure that is necessary to help countries grow and develop for the benefit of the entire population.

BAT to expand ‘glo’ smokeless tobacco sales in Japan from July

British American Tobacco (BAT) will expand sales of its “glo” tobacco-heating device to Tokyo and Osaka from July and roll it out nationwide by year-end, intensifying a battle with Philip Morris International for a share of Japan’s vaping market.

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/30/bat-to-expand-glo-smokeless-tobacco-sales-in-japan-from-july/

Big tobacco firms are investing in alternative products as more people give up traditional cigarettes amid health concerns.

Japan has emerged as a popular testing ground, mainly for “heat not burn” tobacco devices, given e-cigarettes using nicotine-laced liquid are not permitted under the country’s regulations.

In fact, both glo and Philip Morris’ vaping device “iQOS” were launched in Japan and have limited sales outside.

Glo has been on sale in the northeastern city of Sendai since December and iQOS was rolled out across the country in April 2016. According to their manufacturers, the products have been so popular in Japan that supply has fallen short.

BAT, known for Kent and Lucky Strike cigarettes, will start selling glo in the western Japanese city of Osaka, Miyagi in the country’s northeast and Tokyo from July 3, its Japan president Roberta Palazzetti said.

“Our ambition is to be a leader in next generation-products in Japan,” Palazzetti said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Glo, like iQOS, uses tobacco packed in replaceable sticks.

Instead of burning, the battery-powered devices heat the sticks to generate vapour, which their makers say emit less harmful chemicals than conventional cigarettes.

Marlboro-maker Philip Morris estimates that HeatSticks, used in iQOS, had already cornered a 10% share of the Japanese market as of April, up from 7.6% in January.

Apart from Japan, iQOS is available in at least 19 other markets. Glo went on sale in Switzerland and Canada earlier this year.

The latest version of iQOS is priced at 10,980 yen (US$99), while glo is priced at 8,000 yen. Japan Tobacco Inc’s vaping product “Ploom TECH”, which is set to be sold in Tokyo from June 29, costs 4,000 yen.

The former state monopoly, which commands 60% of Japan’s cigarette market, has been lagging in the new product category, but says it is aiming to grab the top share of the country’s vaping market in three years.

Japan Tobacco plans to spend 10 billion yen in marketing as it expands the sale of Ploom Tech to the rest of Japan in the first half of 2018, CEO Mitsuomi Koizumi told Reuters on Monday. – Reuters
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/30/bat-to-expand-glo-smokeless-tobacco-sales-in-japan-from-july/#0kPxiDzxQM2ex1jq.99

Stopping production and marketing of tobacco can be the only way to uphold basic human rights

Action on Smoking and Health and Unfairtobacco agree with the Danish Institute of Human Rights (DIHR) that Philip Morris International (PMI) should cease “the production and marketing of tobacco.”

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20170529/Stopping-production-and-marketing-of-tobacco-can-be-the-only-way-to-uphold-basic-human-rights.aspx

After completing a collaboration with Philip Morris International (PMI) to develop a “human rights implementation plan,” the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) concluded that immediately stopping the sale and marketing of tobacco is the only way for tobacco companies to uphold basic human rights.

ASH and Unfairtobacco are fully aligned with the DIHR conclusion that tobacco production and marketing is deeply harmful and irreconcilable with the human right to health, meaning that PMI and other tobacco companies must stop selling harmful products immediately.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) approached the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), a quasistate body, last year to collaborate on a “human rights implementation plan” for PMI. The DIHR was given access to the corporation to assess PMI’s value chain. Following DIHR’s completion of their work, they concluded:

Tobacco is deeply harmful to human health, and there can be no doubt that the production and marketing of tobacco is irreconcilable with the human right to health. For the tobacco industry, the [United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights] therefore require the cessation of the production and marketing of tobacco.

Allan Lerberg Jørgensen, Department Director, Human Rights and Development with the DIHR, stated they hoped their “input will enable PMI to better understand how the corporate responsibility to respect human rights applies to their business and take the necessary action.”

“ASH and our allies strongly agree with DIHR that the sale of cigarettes is irreconcilable with human rights. The necessary action that DIHR references is clear: if PMI is serious about human rights, it should stop producing, marketing and selling products that kill their consumers.”

Laurent Huber, Action on Smoking and Health (USA)

“As early as 1954, then PMI Vice President George Weissman said that ‘If we had any thought or knowledge that in any way we were selling a product harmful to consumers, we would stop business tomorrow’. The DIHR assessment is just the most recent reminder of their promise. We expect PMI to finally stop selling cigarettes immediately.”

Laura Graen, Unfairtobacco

For PMI to continue producing and marketing cigarettes directly conflicts with development and human rights objectives. Tobacco corporations not only sell a defective product that kills half of its consumers, but they also have a long history of pressuring governments to block and delay lifesaving regulations, thus costing the world millions of lives and billions of dollars every year.

Global Public Health Policies Against Tobacco Partnerships

One strategy the tobacco industry utilizes is the use of third party collaborations to interfere with tobacco control policy making, or to gain legitimacy as a “stakeholder,” and to white wash their reputation.

For this reason, the global tobacco treaty, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) includes a process designed to protect public health policies from the interests of the tobacco industry, requiring that all public or semipublic institutions “should interact with the tobacco industry only when and to the extent strictly necessary to enable them to effectively regulate the tobacco industry and tobacco products.” With that in mind, the global public health community was united in asking DIHR to break their PMI relationship, in line with the Institute’s international human rights obligations. The DIHR responded promptly, ending the relationship before its originally published end date (August 2017).

Stopping the sale of tobacco products is also consistent with the United Nations

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which call on countries to reduce the number of smokers through implementation of the tobacco treaty, the WHO FCTC.

Philip Morris has publicly welcomed the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, while their products are simultaneously recognized by the United Nations, Human Rights agencies, and the public health community as a barrier to development and human rights. Philip Morris states on its website, “How long will the world’s leading cigarette company be in the cigarette business?” The answer is clear: not a day longer.

House panel detains 6 Ilocos employees, orders Imee Marcos to appear in P66-M tobacco fund misuse probe

For refusing to answer questions during a congressional hearing on the alleged misuse of Ilocos Norte tobacco funds, six employees of the province’s Treasurer’s Office were cited in contempt and ordered detained at the House of Representatives on Monday, May 29.

http://www.interaksyon.com/house-panel-detains-6-ilocos-norte-employees-orders-imee-marcos-to-appear-in-p66-m-tobacco-fund-misuse-probe/

Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, who is being accused by Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas of allegedly diverting P66.45 million in tobacco funds to buy motor vehicles, was also subpoenaed by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chaired by Surigao Del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel to appear in the next hearing after skipping two previous hearings.

Pedro Agacaoili, chairman of the office’s Bids and Awards Committee and head of the provincial and planning development office; Josephine Calajate, provincial treasurer; Edna Battulayan, accountant; provincial budget officer Evangeline Tabulog; and two other employees, Genedine Jambaro and Encarnacion Gaor, were brought to the House Sergeant-at-Arms’ office where they would be temporarily held.

During the inquiry on Monday, the six employees repeatedly told the House panel that they could not recall receiving millions in cash advances or authorizing the release of funds for the purchase of various vehicles.

Fariñas grilled the employees on the allegedly anomalous purchase of minicabs, buses, and trucks in 2011 and 2012 using the share of the province from tobacco funds.

The lawmaker chastised the employees for their allegedly “dismissive” answers and also warned that cases against them would pile up if they continue trying to get off the hook.

“Magpapalusot kayo, dadami lalo ang kaso n’yo,” said Fariñas.

According to Fariñas, the vehicles were purchased through cash advances from the province’s share from excise taxes derived from locally produced cigarettes or the special support fund under Republic Act No.7171 or the Act to Promote the Development of the Farmer in the Virgina Tobacco-Producing Provinces.

The lawmaker claimed the purchase of the vehicles had violated provisions of R.A. 7171 because the law mandates Virginia tobacco-producing provinces to use 15 percent of their share of excise taxes from locally produced cigarettes for projects that will help advance tobacco farmers’ self reliance through the establishment of cooperatives and livelihood, agro-industrial, and infrastructure projects.

Also, Fariñas claimed there was no public bidding in the purchase of the vehicles in violation of Republic Act 9814 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

Marcos’ camp on Monday said the governor was on “medical sick leave.”

Fariñas and Marcos used to be allies under what was being pushed as the One Ilocos Norte bloc, but in 2015, they cut ties due to political differences.

Imee’s mother, Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, the former first lady and wife of the late president Ferdinand Marcos, represents the second district of Ilocos Norte. Fariñas represents the First District. Both officials are in their last terms in the House and will serve only until 2019.

Saudi to impose tobacco, sugary drinks tax on June 10

Saudi Arabia will impose a special tax on tobacco and sugary drinks on June 10, as part of a series of steps towards closing a budget deficit caused by low oil prices.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-tax-idUSKBN18O0OA

Khalid Khurais, director of the selective tax unit of the General Authority of Zakat and Tax, told Al Arabiya television on Sunday that rules covering the tax were published in the official gazette last week and would take effect after 15 days.

Officials have said they expect to raise between 8 billion and 10 billion riyals ($2.1 billion to $2.7 billion) annually from the tax, which will comprise a 50 percent levy on soft drinks and 100 percent on tobacco and energy drinks.

The tax marks a big change in policy for Riyadh, which has traditionally kept taxation minimal but now plans a series of levies and fees by 2020 to close a budget gap that totalled 297 billion riyals last year. Next January it plans to impose a 5 percent value-added tax, a much bigger revenue-generating step.

The other countries in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council have also agreed to impose the tax on tobacco and sugary drinks, and are expected to do so in coming months.

(Reporting by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Stephen Powell)

SmokeFree Tasmania and Minister trade barbs

A war of words has erupted between the Health Minister Michael Ferguson and advocacy group, SmokeFree Tasmania, after it accused the government of bowing to the wishes of big tobacco companies.

http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4691300/government-slams-smoke-group-claims/

The stoush comes after Tasmania was named runner-up in the Australian Medical Association’s Dirty Ashtray Award – for governments that make the least effort to reduce smoking.

Responding to the second placing, Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the state would achieve better scores from the association as more policies aimed at reducing smoking rates were implemented.

But SmokeFree Tasmania north member Harley Stanton said the government had included suggestions from big tobacco companies to formulate its Healthy Tasmania Strategic Plan.

“Given that the Tasmanian government, in its healthy Tasmania policy, included advice from Imperial Tobacco it is not surprising that they have been nationally rebuked,” he said.

“This is both embarrassing internationally and bad conduct for any government.”

Fellow SmokeFree Tasmania adviser Kathryn Barnsley said the government needed to distance itself from tobacco companies.

She said the benefit of the government’s crusade on the illicit tobacco market benefited tobacco companies, like Imperial Tobacco.

“The tobacco industry wants the government to crack down on illicit tobacco, but the illicit market is not a health problem,” she said.

But Mr Ferguson slammed the comments as “complete and utter rubbish”.

“I also point out for the record that last year, the government proposed as part of the five-year plan raising the smoking age to 21, and SmokeFree Tasmania aggressively campaigned against it which is inexplicable,” he said.

Dr Barnsley said the government had also failed to provide more money for mass-media campaigns to reduce smoking rates.

Dr Stanton criticised the government’s health expenditure announced in last week’s budget.

“Prevention is better than a cure and reducing the number of people smoking will take pressure off our hospitals,” he said.

Smokers Undeterred as Bills Keep Rising

Since the beginning of the past fiscal year (ended in March) the taxes collected on tobacco products are paid to the Health Ministry (50%), Education Ministry (25%) and Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs (25%) for anti-smoking campaigns

https://financialtribune.com/articles/people/65335/smokers-undeterred-as-bills-keep-rising

Iranians spend $1-1.5 million (40 to 50 billion rials) on tobacco products each day and the cost of treating tobacco-related disease is almost three times more than the amount spent on tobacco consumption.

During the past five years, the rate of tobacco consumption has only slightly decreased, studies conducted by the Health Ministry indicate. The rate is still high among adolescents and young people (the peak age for first trying of smoking has decreased from 13 to 10). The figure has also increased dramatically compared to the past decade, the Persian language weekly ‘Salamat’ reported.

“In 2006, Iranians smoked 50 billion cigarettes (worth $33.3 million). The figure reached 60-70 billion cigarettes in 2016,” said Dr Mohammadreza Madani, head of the Iranian Anti-Tobacco Association (IATA).

Another concern is the high prevalence of hookah (water pipe) for smoking flavored tobacco among young people. One hour of smoking hookah exposes a smoker 100-fold to the amount of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette. Even those people around a hookah smoker inhale smoke equal to 10 cigarettes.

Every year on May 31, the WHO marks World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), highlighting the health and additional risks associated with tobacco use, and advocating effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.

The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2017 is ‘Tobacco – a threat to development.’

But irrespective of the programs to create awareness on the harmful effects of smoking, statistics show that 14-15% of Iranians from the 80 million population are regular cigarette smokers (more than 3% are women, and 20% men).

“Though most of the cigarette smokers are men, hookah smoking doesn’t vary by gender; 21.3% of women and 21.7% of men are hookah smokers,” Madani said.

Dodging Taxes

Iran is one of the nations that has signed the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), by which a country is committed to reduce the rate of tobacco consumption every year (by implementation of both price and tax measures as well as non-price measures to reduce demand for tobacco).

Pointing to Article 8 of the National Comprehensive Law on Tobacco Control, Madani said, “According to the law passed in 2006, every year taxes on cigarettes should be increased by 10%.”

“However, there have been always obstacles in its implementation. For example, in 2010 the figure decreased to 5% due to ‘manipulative tactics’ by the powerful tobacco lobby. Tobacco producers said that high taxes on cigarettes would lead to an increase in cigarette smuggling, and thus managed to reduce the tax.”

However, in January this year, lawmakers passed cigarette and tobacco tax slabs to be implemented under the sixth five-year economic development plan (2017-22).

Based on the new law, the tax slab on locally-produced tobacco and cigarettes is 10%; for local brands jointly produced by domestic and foreign manufacturers, it is 20%; for domestically produced cigarettes with foreign brand names the slab is 25%; and for imported cigarettes and tobacco, it is 40%.

Lawmakers also mandated the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade to announce the retail prices of cigarettes and all tobacco products to the relevant authorities for taxation purposes and for printing the tax rates on cigarette packs.

“Since the beginning of the past fiscal year (ended in March) the taxes collected on tobacco products are paid to the Health Ministry (50%), Education Ministry (25%) and Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs (25%). The Education Ministry is required to spend the money on increasing students’ awareness of harms associated with tobacco smoking,” Madani said.

Earlier, the tax money was given to the ministries of health and sports and youth affairs.

Facts About Tobacco

There are more than 7 million deaths from tobacco use every year, a figure that is predicted to cross 8 million by 2030 without effective and intensified action. Tobacco consumption is a threat to any person, regardless of gender, age, race, cultural or educational background. It brings suffering, disease, and death, impoverishing families and national economies.

Tobacco use costs national economies enormously through increased healthcare costs and decreased productivity. Some 80% of premature deaths from tobacco occur in low- or middle-income countries, which face increased challenges to achieving their development goals, the WHO website reports.

Tobacco growing requires large amounts of pesticides and fertilizers, which can be toxic and pollute water supplies. Each year, tobacco growing uses 4.3 million hectares of land, resulting in global deforestation between 2% and 4%. Tobacco manufacturing also produces over 2 million tons of solid waste.

By increasing cigarette taxes worldwide by $1, an extra $190 billion could be raised for development. High tobacco taxes contribute to revenue generation for governments, reduce demand for tobacco, and offer an important revenue stream to finance development activities.

Higher tobacco prices are an effective preventative measure

Thirty percent of the estimated 2.3 million smokers in Austria are considered to be heavily tobacco-dependent and, according to experts at MedUni Vienna, require professional treatment. This would mean around 690,000 people. According to Michael Kunze, an expert on smoking at the Center for Public Health at MedUni Vienna, an effective strategy would be to increase the price of tobacco products: “If the price of cigarettes were to rise just one percent above the inflation rate, that would bring about a 0.5% reduction in consumption worldwide.”

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-05-higher-tobacco-prices-effective.html

“At MedUni Vienna we were among the first to suggest solving this problem via a pricing strategy and to provide scientific evidence to back this up,” explains Kunze on the occasion of World No Smoking Day this coming Sunday (31 May). However, this strategy would only make sense if it were to be implemented throughout Europe or within the European Union (EU). A cohesive policy is required because, at the moment, the completely different pricing policies in the various EU countries are getting in the way.

Making effective nicotine replacement treatments more accessible

At the same time, the social medicine experts at MedUni Vienna are calling for an effective programme of nicotine replacement therapy, similar to the methadone programme for heroin addicts. Although treatment options are available, they bear the stigma of being a drug treatment. “Many smokers say they do not want to take drugs, because they do not feel ill. If the replacement therapies were available without prescription, in pharmacies for example, the programme would work much better,” stresses Kunze, citing the example of the Swedish programme with the air-dried chewing tobacco “Snus”, whereby the nicotine finds its way into the bloodstream via the oral mucosa.

“Snus” is less damaging to health because it does not give rise to any toxins, such as those produced by burning tobacco during smoking. Kunze: “The prevalence of lung cancer has dropped by 50% in Sweden as a result.” International studies have shown that consuming smokeless tobacco is up to 95% less harmful than smoking. However, with the exception of Sweden, the commercial sale of “Snus” is banned in the EU, even though it is not illegal to buy it, if you are aged 18 or over.

Smoking cessation brings benefits after only a few days

The possible negative consequences of long-term tobacco consumption are clearly evidenced: tobacco consumption is the single biggest cause of illness and premature death in Europe: around 90% of deaths from lung cancer are caused by smoking and the same applies to 75% of deaths from chronic bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. Moreover, cigarette smoking is implicated in the development of pancreatic, kidney and cervical cancer.

It has also been proven that positive effects can occur very soon after quitting: “Even just a few days after the last cigarette, the risk of cardiovascular disease falls rapidly. Smoking practically constitutes carbon monoxide poisoning so, if you stop, you stop poisoning yourself,” says Kunze. However, the cancer risk remains elevated for many years afterwards.
Read more at: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-05-higher-tobacco-prices-effective.html#jCp

Current Tobacco Smoking and Desire to Quit Smoking Among Students Aged 13–15 Years

Download (PDF, 86KB)

Reduction in tobacco taxes to be a disaster: PIMA

Doctors resent government’s plan to make smoking ‘easier’

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/206442-Reduction-in-tobacco-taxes-to-be-a-disaster-PIMA

Reacting to a statement made by the Special Assistant to the PM on Revenue, who has expressed that high taxes on cigarettes encourage smuggling which, in turn, costs billions to the exchequer, the president of Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMS) Wednesday suggested that if such a cause and effect relationship is logical, then the government should bring heroin, hashish and other menaces in the open market as a commercial commodity as well, and earn huge income through taxes.

“The government should be ashamed for increasing the prices of basic commodities like bread, fruits, milk, petrol, electricity, etc. and reducing the prices of dangerous items like tobacco,” the PIMA chief stated. He pointed out that Pakistan has one of the largest populations of tobacco users in the world, with over 22 million adults smoking cigarettes, ‘huqqa’ or ‘biri’ and millions more using smokeless tobacco products, including ‘gutka,’ ‘naswar,’ and ‘paan.’ Over 100,000 deaths are attributed to tobacco use each year from lung and oral cancers, strokes, heart and respiratory diseases.

Research has shown that increase in tobacco prices leads to a decrease in the number of smokers in a given community, one of the most effective of many strategies to curb tobacco use. “Here, our government is going to do exactly the opposite: make it easier to buy cigarette. While it may not matter for the richer strata of the society, even a small price increase matters a lot for the poor and lower middle class. It is this group unfortunately that is farthest away from any sort of health education, health care and economic benefits when it comes to illness that inevitably stems from tobacco use,” the PIMA president pointed out.

A research study on tobacco taxation in Pakistan, conducted jointly by FBR, World Bank, University of Toronto, Johns Hopkins University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Beaconhouse National University, concluded that a uniform specific excise tax of Rs31.2 per pack of 20 cigarettes, could reduce overall cigarette consumption by 7.5 per cent, increase tax revenues by Rs27.2 billion, leading to over half a million users quitting and reducing premature deaths among current adult smokers by over 180,000, while also preventing 725,000 youth from taking up smoking.

Only a week ago, the Minister of State for Health Saira Afzal had recommended an increase in the Federal Excise Duty on lower slab of all brands of cigarettes from the current Rs32.98 to Rs44 per pack of 20 cigarettes.