WHO Calls on Countries to Raise Tobacco Taxes to Save More Lives

To encourage smokers to kick the butt and prevent others from becoming tobacco addicts, the World Health Organization urges countries to raise taxes on tobacco.

Just in time for the World No Tobacco Day (31 May), the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on countries to raise taxes on tobacco in order to save more lives.  Analyzing the 2012 data, WHO estimates that there would be a drop of nearly 49 million smokers within the next three years if the taxes on tobacco increase by 50 percent. This would eventually save 11 million lives.

"Raising taxes on tobacco is the most effective way to reduce use and save lives," says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. "Determined action on tobacco tax policy hits the industry where it hurts."

Half of the people who are tobacco addicts lose their lives due to this unhealthy habit.  Mostly, all tobacco-related diseases and death strike people in the prime of their working lives.

By increasing the prices on tobacco products, the young people who have limited access to income will refrain from taking up smoking.  High price, apart from discouraging young people to smoke, will encourage them to quit tobacco use altogether.

"Price increases are 2 to 3 times more effective in reducing tobacco use among young people than among older adults," says Dr 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."

Also the government would earn extra $ 101 billion in global revenue if the countries elevated the tobacco tax by 50 percent per pack. And these extra funds could be used to advance health and other social programmes.

"Tobacco use is the world's leading preventable cause of death. Tobacco kills 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% of them among people living in low- and middle-income countries," according to the news release.

The countries that have witnessed the benefit of lifting taxes on tobacco include France and Philippines.