The World Health Organization (WHO) recently suggested that
governments around the world should increase taxes on cigarettes and other
tobacco products primarily to save lives and generate funds for stronger health
services.
In an article published on GMA News, the WHO calculated that
one person allegedly succumbs from tobacco-related disease every six seconds.
This, it said translates to about 6 million people deaths a year.
Moreover, the number is even forecast to rise to more than 8
million people a year by 2030 unless strong and strategic drives are
implemented to control the so-called, “tobacco epidemic.”
In a report entitled “The Global Tobacco Epidemic 2015,” the
United Nations health agency said that only few governments make full use of
tobacco taxes to dissuade people from smoking or help them to cut down and
quit.
Further, it recommends that at least 75 percent of the price
of a pack of cigarettes should be taxed.
The WHO disclosed that there are a billion smokers
worldwide, but many countries have extremely low tobacco tax rates while some
have no special tobacco taxes at all.
Raising taxes on tobacco products, according to WHO
Director-General Margaret Chan, is one of the most effective and cost-effective
ways to reduce consumption of the killer products as it also generate
substantial revenue at the same time.
As stipulated on the WHO report, Chan urged all governments
to look at the evidence and “adopt one of the best win-win policy options
available for health.”
Based on studies, tobacco is considered one of the four main
risk factors behind non-communicable diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular
and lung diseases and diabetes.
In 2012 these non-communicable diseases apparently killed
about 16 million people under the age of 70, with more than 80 percent of the
mortality rate coming from poor or middle-income countries.
Douglas Bettcher, a WHO expert on the prevention of
non-communicable diseases, likewise said that higher tobacco taxes have been
proven as an effective measure to reduce tobacco consumption and help people to
quit smoking.
He disclosed that evidence from countries such as China and
France shows higher tobacco product prices linked to increased taxes lead to
declines in smoking prevalence and tobacco-related harm.
Meanwhile, the WHO noted that since 2008, when 22 countries
had tobacco tax that accounted for more than 75 percent of the price of a
packet of cigarettes, only 11 more countries have allegedly taken action to
increase taxes to appropriate levels.
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