The Secretariat of the Pacific Community is urging governments in the region to reduce the number of deaths from cigarette smoking by putting up taxes.
Transcript
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community is urging governments in the region to reduce the number of deaths from cigarette smoking by putting up taxes.
The SPC's non-communicable disease adviser, Jeanie McKenzie, says tobacco smoking contributes to the deaths of six million people globally every year.
She says most countries in the Pacific have signed up to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Jenny Meyer asked her why the SPC is advocating tobacco tax hikes.
JEANIE MCKENZIE: By putting up the price we can reduce people's purchasing of cigarettes and thereby reduce their consumption. We can improve their health. It also helps promote and sustain quitting and it is especially good for young people because it actually deters initiation of smoking. All round putting the price up is actually a very effective mechanism for tobacco control. In fact we know that if we just put up the price by ten per cent we can be expected to reduce demand by four to five per cent of cigarettes. So it really is an extremely effective strategy.
JENNY MEYER: Across the Pacific region in various different islands there's quite a variation in the price of a packet of cigarettes. What would you like to see happen there?
JMcK: Currently only Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu and the Cook Islands I think are above the 45 percent excise. So a lot of countries are really low, they're down as low as 20 per cent excise, and some have no excise tax at all and rely on other taxes for cigarettes. So this means that there's huge variabilities in the price. Some countries like Kiribati for example you can still buy a packet of cigarettes for as little as $2.70 So we know that its a really key strategy and so we also know that when cigarettes are that cheap at $2.70 there's no disincentive to carry on purchasing them.
JM: And what about other forms of support, if you're going to put up the price, what other forms of support would you like to see or like governments to put in place to help people quit, what really I guess, is a quite a strong addiction for many?
JMcK: Yes absolutely that's a very good point. Tax and legislation that's just one measure but on the support side for smokers what they [the countries] have basically signed up to, is to try to provide cessation services, that might be in the form of individual counselling or in some countries there are quit lines, so we think that is a key strategy here.
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