Raising tobacco taxes to reduce consumption

The member-states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched the World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic, and the preventable deaths and diseases it causes. In 1988, Resolution WHA42.19 was passed, calling for the observance of World No Tobacco Day every year on May 31.
Since then, every year the Day is observed by the member-states with a specific theme. The Day provides an opportunity for governments, non-government organisations and individuals in every community to get involved in activities that can lead to a tobacco-free environment and thus ensure better health.
The theme of the World No Tobacco Day 2014 is: "Raise taxes on tobacco".
Smoking is a health problem, the costs of which include sickness, pain, grief and misery. But tobacco use also imposes a significant economic burden on society. In addition to the direct medical costs of treating tobacco-related illnesses, there are other indirect costs including loss of productivity, fire damage and environmental harm from cigarette litter and destructive farming practices. The total burden caused by tobacco products more than outweighs any economic benefit from their manufacture and sale.
WHO KEY FACTS ON TOBACCO: Facts reveal that tobacco kills nearly 6.0 million people each year. More than five million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use, while more than 6,00,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more than eight million by 2030. Nearly 80 per cent of the world's one billion smokers live in low and middle-income countries. The fact further shows that consumption of tobacco products is increasing globally, although it is decreasing in some high-income and upper middle-income countries.
Tobacco users who die prematurely deprive their families of income, raise the cost of health care and hinder economic development.  In some countries, children from poor households are frequently employed in tobacco farming to provide family income. These children are especially vulnerable to "green tobacco sickness", which is caused by the nicotine that is absorbed through the skin from the handling of wet tobacco leaves. There are more than 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
YOU CANNOT BE SAFE SO LONG AS THERE ARE SMOKERS AROUND: It is now well accepted globally that you cannot be safe so long as there are smokers around. For whatever reason if you inhale the air polluted by a tobacco smoker, you run the same risk as the smoker for having the adverse effects of smoking on your health. This is called second-hand smoke.  In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death and in pregnant women, it causes low birth weight. Almost half of children regularly breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke in public places.
THE POOR AND TOBACCO CONSUMPTION: It is the poorer and the poorest who tend to smoke the most. Globally, 84 per cent of smokers live in developing and traditional economy countries. At the country level, tobacco consumption varies by socio-economic groups. In many countries, at all levels of development and income, it is the poor who smoke the most and who bear most the economic and disease burden of tobacco use. A study on prevalence of smoking among men in Chennai (India) in 1997 shows that the highest rate exists among the illiterate people (64 per cent). This prevalence decreases by the number of years of schooling, and it decreases to about one fifty (21 per cent) among those with more than 12 years of schooling. A study in the United Kingdom (UK) shows that only 10 per cent of women and 12 per cent of men in the highest socio-economic group are smokers, while 35 per cent of women and 40 per cent of men in the lowest socio-economic group smoke.
TOBACCO INCREASES POVERTY OF INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES: WHO facts reveal that tobacco and poverty create a vicious cycle. In most countries, tobacco use tends to be higher among the poor. Poor families, in turn, spend a larger proportion of their income on tobacco. Money spent on tobacco cannot be spent on basic human needs such as food, shelter, education and health care. Tobacco can also worsen poverty among users and their families since tobacco users are at much higher risk of falling ill and dying prematurely of cancers, heart attacks, respiratory diseases or other tobacco-induced diseases, depriving their families of much needed income and imposing additional costs for health care.
SPECIFIC GOALS OF WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY 2014: As mentioned above, a specific theme for the day provides an opportunity for governments, non-government organisations and individuals in every community to get involved in activities that can lead to a tobacco-free environment and thus ensure better health. This year's theme underscores that governments should increase taxes on tobacco to such levels that help reduce tobacco consumption, and individuals and civil society organisations should work together to encourage their governments to increase taxes on tobacco to levels that reduce consumption. Enhanced tax on tobacco is an effective strategy to reduce consumption, and it saves lives of millions.
TAXES DISCOURAGE TOBACCO USE: WHO study on tobacco shows that tobacco taxes are the most cost-effective way to reduce tobacco use, especially among the young and poorer people. A tax increase that raises tobacco prices by 10 per cent in fact decreases tobacco consumption by about 4.0 per cent in high-income countries, and up to 8.0 per cent in low and middle-income countries. Comprehensive tobacco control measures, especially those demand-reduction measures such as higher taxes, advertising and promotion bans, smoking bans in public places and helping those who wish to quit are effective in reducing tobacco usage, and consequently tobacco attributable deaths and diseases. From the income perspective, higher taxes will likely increase the share of income spent on tobacco, in a way creating big 'opportunity costs' on families' immediate needs such as education and health expenditures.
When evaluated from a broader perspective, tobacco control is not only effective but also has positive impacts on the poor, society and the economy. That is because a substantial portion of the world's tobacco consumers are poor, and the poor suffer more from the burden of tobacco-attributable diseases and deaths.  Given the higher price sensitivity among the poor, as taxes increases, it is more likely that the poor will quit or reduce the quantity of tobacco consumption. Consequently, a tax increase can be blessing as it becomes an incentive for poorer populations to stop using tobacco. Moreover, reducing tobacco consumption will help create a long-term benefit. In the mid- to long-run, as smokers gain their health, better health will improve the social and economic development of countries.  
TOBACCO CONTROL ACT: The Government of Bangladesh passed the smoking and tobacco products usage control law in 2005, and made it effective in the same year. Subsequently, an amendment was made in 2013 to make the law more effective. The amended law bans smoking in public places including transports and kept provision of a fine of Tk 300 which was Tk 50 earlier. According to the new law, leaves, roots, branches and other parts of tobacco or such plants would be treated as intoxicants. Moreover, cigarettes and bidi, tobacco powder (gool), aromatic tobacco (jorda), processed tobacco (khoini) and white leaves of tobacco will be considered as tobacco products. The amended law bans sales to minors and use of 'light', 'mild', 'slim' etc; and use of misconceptions on the pack has been banned.
The members of parliament should work together for tobacco taxation for various categories of tobacco products in such a higher and proportionate rate so that tobacco users, particularly the young and poorer sections of society, are compelled to quit or at least reduce tobacco consumption which in turn can help create big 'opportunity costs' on families' immediate needs such as education and health expenditures. As we know, the tobacco industry is a powerful giant, only individual efforts will not work. We must work together for a tobacco-free society. We have the strength of law. Along with the government and WHO efforts, health personnel, public representatives, social workers, NGOs, health workers, religious leaders, school teachers and individuals may work to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco and smoking.
The theme of World No Tobacco Day this year is very timely and appropriate and it should be utilised in a befitting manner. Working together, we shall certainly win over the tobacco industry and thus keep our environment free of tobacco hazards for the health and welfare of the people.
The author writes on health and environment issues, and is executive secretary of ADHUNIK, a national anti-tobacco organisation
of Bangladesh.