A recent article by Reuters brought attention to a question many smokers and non-smokers alike have across the globe. Do increased taxes on tobacco products and banning tobacco advertising in stores actually do anything to save peoples’ lives?
According to researchers with the World Health Organization (WHO), anti-smoking measures such as higher taxes on tobacco products, bans on advertising and controls on lighting up in public places could prevent tens of millions of premature deaths across the world. Professor David Levy from Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington has done extensive research on this subject and has found that measures such as these can, in fact, drastically reduce the morbidity rate. Six million people die every year from smoking and the toll is projected to rise to 8 million by 2030.
Forty-one countries have adopted measures to protect youths from using tobacco; mostly in the form of raising tobacco taxes and banning advertising that misleads them into thinking that tobacco products are a safe and hip item. Australia, for example, was one of the first nations to adopt measures to decrease tobacco use among youths back in 1992, and now 21 years later, has one of the lowest youth smoking rates at 2.5 percent. Canada, Ireland, Iceland, England, and more than 30 other nations have since adopted similar policies and are seeing the benefits.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is hoping to be the first city/state in the nation to pass a tobacco advertising ban in stores that sell the product. David Levy says, “If the progress attained by other countries were extended globally, tens of millions of smoking-related deaths could be averted. Wider use of the controls could also lead to lower health care costs and higher birth weights for babies.”
Researchers have found that the most effective measures were increasing taxes and banning smoking in offices, restaurants and other public places. The first method would prevent 3.5 million smoking-attributable deaths, while the second would prevent 2.5 million, according to researchers. New York has already implemented a few such measures and is already seeing a decrease in the adult smoking rate. In 2000, for example, the adult smoking rate was over 23 percent and now 11 years later it’s around 19 percent. However, in areas such as Orleans County, further measures could be enacted to reduce the adult smoking rate which is nearly 30 percent. The tobacco industry understands that in rural areas and those with a large percentage of low-income households and low-skilled labor, tobacco use is usually higher. Furthermore, it is often more difficult to quit due to the cost of effective nicotine replacement therapy and/or the lack of available resources. Nonetheless, more could be done to reduce tobacco use in these areas.
On July 24, New York celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Clean Indoor Air Act. Needless to say, health-conscious initiatives like these are saving lives and taking a bite out of the soaring health care costs.
Kevin Keenan is project director for Smoke-Free NOW, a program of Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. For more information call (585) 815-1875 or visit www.smokefreenow.org.
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http://thedailynewsonline.com/opinion/article_14003e1e-e8e0-11e2-95e4-001a4bcf887a.html
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