WHO: Increase taxes to curb smoking
July 7, 2015
In a report entitled "The Global Tobacco Epidemic 2015," the World Health Organization (WHO) said that too few governments have implemented the UN health agency's recommendations to increase tobacco taxes to curb the practice.
The WHO recommended that at least 75 percent of the price of a cigarette pack should be tax.
"Raising taxes on tobacco products is one of the most effective - and cost-effective - ways to reduce consumption of products that kill, while also generating substantial revenue," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan noted in the report.
The WHO report added that one person dies roughly every six seconds from tobacco-related diseases.
About 6 million people die from smoking yearly, although the figure is set to increase to 8 million by 2030 if governments do not implement programs - such as increasing taxes - to curb tobacco use.
Meanwhile, out of the 194 WHO member countries, only 33 have levied taxes on tobacco products amounting to 75 percent of the overall sales price.
In 2008, countries which had implemented the WHO's recommendations amounted to 22, marking an increase of 11 countries in 2015. However, the UN health agency said in the report that it was not enough.
In France, a country that has seen a steady rise in tobacco-related taxes since the early 1990s, has recorded a notable drop in its lung cancer death rate since the middle of the decade.
Jose Luis Castro, president of the World Lung Foundation, said that the WHO's message was clear, according to Reuters news agency.
"This report confirms that a failure to increase taxes on tobacco products will certainly lead to more premature death and disease, particularly in low- and middle-income countries with high levels of smoking and where tobacco is affordable," Castro said in reference to the report.
ls/kms (Reuters, dpa)