TRIPPLING TOBACCO TAXES MAY RECUCE DEATHS BY 20 CRORE

Tripling tobacco tax globally would reduce smoking by a third and prevent 200 million premature deaths from lung cancer and other diseases this century, researchers, including an Indian-origin scientist, say. Such a large tax increase would double the street price of cigarettes in some countries and narrow the price gap between the cheapest and most expensive cigarettes, which would encourage people to stop smoking rather than switch to a cheaper brand and help young not to start, researchers said. This would be especially effective in low- and middle-income countries, where the cheapest cigarettes are relatively affordable and where smoking rates continue to rise, said Dr Prabhat Jha, director of the Centre for Global Health Research of St Michael's Hospital. But it would also be effective in rich countries, said Jha, who is also a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. "A higher tax on tobacco is the single most effective intervention to lower smoking rates and to deter future smokers," Jha said. "Worldwide, around a half-billion children and adults under the age of 35 are already – or soon will be – smokers and on current patterns few will quit," said Professor Sir Richard Peto of the University of Oxford, the co-author. "This study demonstrates that tobacco taxes are a hugely powerful lever and potentially a triple win – reducing the numbers of people who smoke and who die from their addiction, reducing premature deaths from smoking and yet, at the same time, increasing government income," researchers wrote in the review published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Controlling tobacco marketing is also key to helping people quit smoking, researchers believe. An independent review in the UK concluded that plain packaging would reduce the appeal of cigarettes. Australia changed to plain packaging in 2011, a measure New Zealand plans to follow, researchers said. Researchers said an average of 10 years of life is lost from smoking. Many of those killed are still in middle age, meaning on average they lose about 20 years of life expectancy.