DENVER — Catering to close to one billion smokers worldwide, tobacco companies are raking in around $500 billion every year. They are also providing the drug that kills nearly six million people every year, 80 percent of these users live in low and middle-income countries. As developing countries have begun to make progress, tobacco companies are increasing advertising in these nations, greatly increasing their sales.
In the U.S., anti-tobacco commercials are growing more common as lung cancer numbers increase and more negative research becomes common knowledge. In impoverished areas, however, people are less educated about the health effects of smoking. Recently these countries have had sharp increases in lung cancer cases and a much higher prevalence of smoking.
Acknowledged as an important global issue, some countries are taking two important steps to encourage people to quit smoking, and to prevent them from starting in the first place. The first step is increasing cigarette prices. This is the simplest way to prevent people from smoking. Particularly in developing countries where luxuries aren’t always an option, price increases would limit access to tobacco.
Harsh Varhan, the health minister of India, is advocating for tax increases on cigarettes in India from 45 percent to 60 percent in order to deter people from purchasing cigarettes. Russia is acting in the same manner, as lawmakers have proposed that the minimum cigarette price be raised by 41 percent by 2015.
Another influential measure being taken is adding graphic warnings to cigarette packs. The World Health Organization explains, “pictorial warnings significantly increase people’s awareness of the harms of tobacco use.” These warnings generally depict the unfortunate side effects of smoking, which include rotting teeth, cancerous lungs and tracheotomy holes.
Over 40 countries have adopted the graphic warnings, with variations in the required percentage of the pack that is covered with the pictures. More and more countries are getting behind the movement, with additions to the list happening this year.
Early in 2014, the EU parliament voted to increase the size of warnings on cigarette packs from 30 to 65 percent.On June 24, Indonesia, which has the third highest number of smokers in the world, decided to stipulate that 40 percent of the surface of cigarette packs be covered in graphic warnings. On June 26, the Supreme Administrative Court of Thailand ruled that 85 percent of packs of cigarettes in Thailand be covered in graphic warnings. Their goal is “to reduce new smokers, reduce old smokers in rural areas and reduce threats of second hand smoke.” And the list goes on.
The recent upsurge in regulations is heartening. Developing countries are affected by millions of deaths from smoking, deaths that could potentially be prevented were the people adequately informed. Global poverty is also made worse by cigarettes. In addition to the preventable deaths caused by lung cancer, the money that people spend on cigarettes could be put to better use to create a more stable and sustainable economy.
In the future, if more countries join the likes of Thailand and Russia and begin to increase prices and graphic warnings to minimize smoking, our world will be less clouded with smoke.
– Magdalen Wagner
Sources: TheCelebrityCafe.com, The St. Petersburg Times, The Spokesman-Review, JURIST, World Health Organization, The Economic Times, The Guardian
Feature Image: Flickr