Seven million people in the world die from tobacco consumption every year
LAHORE: Every year, on May 31st the WHO marks World No Tobacco Day and highlights the health and additional risks associated with consuming tobacco. It also advocates for effective policies to reduce its consumption, such as increasing taxes on tobacco products.
This year the threats that the tobacco industry poses to sustainable development of countries, including the health and economic well-being of their citizens were highlighted on the day. Countries benefit from successfully controlling the tobacco epidemic, which results in protecting their citizens from the harms of tobacco consumption and reducing its economic toll on national economies.
Around seven million people in the world die from tobacco consumption every year. Some 80 per cent of premature deaths from tobacco occur in low or middle-income countries, which face increased challenges to achieving their development goals. Hence, regulating tobacco industries helps in achieving global goal, such as saving lives and reducing health inequalities. Comprehensive tobacco control also manages to contain the adverse environmental impact of tobacco cultivation, manufacture, trade and consumption.
It can also break the cycle of poverty, contribute to ending hunger, promote sustainable agriculture and economic growth and combat climate change. Increasing taxes on tobacco products can also be used to finance universal health coverage and other development programmes of the government. It is not only governments who can step up tobacco control efforts but people too can contribute on an individual level to making a sustainable, tobacco-free world.
On the other hand, cultivating tobacco requires large amounts of pesticides and fertilisers, which can be toxic and pollute water supplies. Each year, cultivation of tobacco uses 4.3 million hectares of land, resulting in global deforestation between 2 per cent and 4 per cent. Tobacco manufacturing also produces over 2 million tons of solid waste.
Today, more than half of the world’s countries, representing nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population, are creating firewalls to ward off interference from the tobacco industry in governments’ tobacco control policies.
Through increasing cigarette taxes worldwide by $1, an extra $190 billion could be raised for development. High tobacco taxes contribute to revenue generation for governments, reduce demand for tobacco and offer an important revenue stream to finance development activities.
Dr Zeeshan Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2017.
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