How the global tobacco trade is gaining influence & stature
A new study co-published by the World Health Organisation and the US-based National Cancer Institute blames the powerful tobacco lobbies around the world for vitiating anti-smoking drives.
With 80% of the world’s smokers living in the lower middle-income countries, World Health Organization (WHO) and the US-based National Cancer Institute on 10 January said that control of illicit trade in tobacco products is the key policy to reduce tobacco use and its health and economic consequences.
The new report launched by the two global health organisations has stated that the market power of tobacco companies has increased in recent years, creating new challenges for tobacco control efforts.
“As of 2014, five tobacco companies accounted for 85% of the global cigarette market. Policies aimed at limiting the market power of tobacco companies are largely untested but hold promise for reducing tobacco use,” said the report The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control.
WHO data says that the tobacco industry and the deadly impact of its products cost the world’s economies more than $ 1 trillion annually in health care expenditures and lost productivity.
The report highlighted the issue of high levels of corruption and lack of commitment to addressing illicit trade.
“Many countries having ineffective customs and tax administration, have an equal or greater role in driving tax evasion than do product tax and pricing. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products applies tools, like an international tracking and tracing system, to secure the tobacco supply chain,” said the report.
The report said that experience from many countries shows illicit trade can be successfully addressed, even when tobacco taxes and prices are raised, resulting in increased tax revenues and reduced tobacco use.
Commenting on the new report, WHO Director for the Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases Douglas Bettcher said this report gives governments a powerful tool to combat tobacco industry adversely impacting economies.
“This report shows how lives can be saved and economies can prosper when governments implement cost-effective, proven measures, like significantly increasing taxes and prices on tobacco products, and banning tobacco marketing and smoking in public,” he said.
Calling tobacco demand reducing policies and programmes as cost-effective, the report said that significant tobacco tax and price increases, comprehensive bans on tobacco industry market- ing activities, and prominent pictorial warnings are generally the least costly tobacco control interventions.
“Significant tobacco tax and price increases are the most cost-effective of these interventions. Despite the considerable revenues generated by tobacco taxes, few governments are investing more than a fraction of these revenues in tobacco control or in other health programs,” said the report.
WHO has estimated that in 2013-2014, global tobacco excise taxes generated nearly $269 billion in government revenues, but governments spent a combined total of less than $1 billion on tobacco control.
The report also said that the market power of tobacco companies has increased in recent years, creating new challenges for tobacco control efforts.
“The global tobacco market has become increasingly concentrated over the past 25 years and is being driven by the same forces that have contributed to globalisation in other industries, including reductions in barriers to trade and foreign direct investment, privatisation of state-owned tobacco enterprises, and a wave of mergers and acquisitions,” said the report.
The global total annual number of deaths linked to tobacco consumption will increase from the current six million to eight million by 2030, according to a study by the World Health Organisation and the US National Cancer Institute.
Around 80% of smokers across the world live in low and middle-income countries, and will pay a higher price in tackling the economic consequences of the addiction, said the study released on Tuesday.
“The number of tobaccorelated deaths is projected to increase from about six million deaths annually to about eight million annually by 2030,” says the report, titled The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control.
Although tobacco consumption is declining at the global level, there is a great risk that WHO will not meet its target of reducing tobacco consumption by 30% by 2025, the study adds.
Another section of the study looks at the consequences of passive smoking for individuals and also for public health systems, which in many cases bear the cost of treatment.
The report urges governments to invest more in information and prevention campaigns, due to the attractiveness of tobacco to young people, who are often not fully aware of its harmful consequences.
“Effective policy and programmatic interventions are available to reduce the demand for tobacco products and the death, disease, and economic costs that result from their use, but these interventions are underutilised.”
The report cites high taxes on tobacco, policies on establishing smoke-free spaces, banning marketing of tobacco and campaigns to spread awareness, as the most effective but not sufficiently used measures.
However, the authors of the study say, the problem lies in the fact that few governments invest the money collected from tobacco taxation in antitobacco policies.
WHO estimates that in 2013- 2014 global taxes on tobacco generated nearly $269 billion in government revenues, but governments spent less than $1 billion on tobacco control measures.
The study adds that it has been verified that increasing prices has a direct impact on reducing consumption among the poor.
Finally, the report stresses that tobacco control measures do not harm economies as in recent years the number of jobs depending on tobacco has been falling in most countries, mostly due to technological innovations, globalisation and privatisation, rather than the fight against addiction. IANS
“The number of tobacco-related deaths is projected to increase from about six million deaths annually to about eight million annually by 2030,” says the report, titled The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control.