January 17, 2025 01:52 am (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Cabinet's decision on 8th Pay Commission will improve quality of life, give boost to consumption: PM Modi | 'It has been an incredibly challenging day': Kareena Kapoor Khan requests privacy after Saif Ali Khan's stabbing incident | 'Distorting history': Mamata slams Mohan Bhagwat over his Ram Temple consecration 'marking true independence' remark | Saif Ali Khan stabbing incident: Actor who received six wounds is out of danger, one accused identified | ISRO creates history docking two Indian satellites in space | US-based short seller Hindenburg Research that targeted Adani Group and SEBI chairperson to be disbanded | Saif Ali Khan stabbed during burglary attempt at home, hospitalised; police probe on | Israel, Hamas reach ceasefire agreement to end 15-month-long war in Gaza | 'Ugly truth exposed': BJP slams Rahul Gandhi over his 'Opposition fighting Indian state' remark | We have a deal for hostages in Middle East: Donald Trump takes credit for Israel, Hamas ceasefire agreement
Credit: WHO

UN advocates for higher tobacco taxes to save millions

| | May 31, 2014, at 05:32 pm
New York, May 31 (IBNS): Ahead of World No Tobacco Day, the United Nations health agency is calling on countries to raise taxes on tobacco to encourage users to stop and prevent other people from becoming addicted to tobacco.
“Raising taxes on tobacco is the most effective way to reduce use and save lives,” says Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). “Determined action on tobacco tax policy hits the industry where it hurts.”
 
Based on 2012 data, WHO estimates that by increasing tobacco taxes by 50 per cent, all countries would reduce the number of smokers by 49 million within the next 3 years and ultimately save 11 million lives.
 
On Friday, someone dies from tobacco use every six seconds, the agency noted in a news release issued ahead of the Day, observed on May 31. Tobacco kills up to half of its users. It also incurs considerable costs for families, businesses and governments.
 
“Treating tobacco-related diseases like cancer and heart disease is expensive. And as tobacco-related disease and death often strike people in the prime of their working lives, productivity and incomes fall,” WHO pointed out.
 
High prices are particularly effective in discouraging young people – who have more limited incomes than older adults – from taking up smoking. They also encourage existing young smokers to either reduce their use of tobacco or quit altogether.
 
“Price increases are 2 to 3 times more effective in reducing tobacco use among young people than among older adults,” said Douglas Bettcher, Director of the Department for Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases at WHO.
 
“Tax policy can be divisive, but this is the tax rise everyone can support. As tobacco taxes go up, death and disease go down,” added Bettcher.
 
WHO calculates that if all countries increased tobacco taxes by 50 per cent per pack, Governments would earn an extra USD 101 billion in global revenue.
 
“These additional funds could – and should – be used to advance health and other social programmes,” Bettcher stated.
 
Countries such as France and the Philippines have already seen the benefits of imposing high taxes on tobacco. Between the early 1990s and 2005, France tripled its inflation-adjusted cigarette prices, and subsequently saw sales decrease by more than half. 
 
A few years later the number of young men dying from lung cancer in France started to go down.
 
In the Philippines, one year after increasing taxes, the Government has collected more than the expected revenue and plans to spend 85 per cent of this on health services.
 
Tobacco use is the world’s leading preventable cause of death, killing nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke.
 
If no action is taken, tobacco will kill more than 8 million people every year by 2030, more than 80 per cent of them among people living in low- and middle-income countries.
 
 
 
 (World No Tobacco Day 2014. Credit: WHO)

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia Mar 22, 2023, at 08:26 pm
Related Videos
Iran launches missile attack on Israel Oct 02, 2024, at 09:20 pm
WATCH LIVE: King Charles III Coronation May 06, 2023, at 10:27 pm
Close menu