Tobacco use is barrier to sustainable development-WHO Director

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General, says tobacco use is a barrier to sustainable development on all fronts.

He made the remark in Cape Town, South Africa, March 7 during the 17th World Conference on Health or Tobacco, WCTOH. The event is placed under the theme: “Uniting the World for a Tobacco Free Generation.”

During the event, the WHO Director joined various speakers to appeal for a renewed focus on tobacco control policies to help users quit and to prevent non-users from becoming addicted.

Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies, all  organisers of the event said, “international collaboration is vital for tracking tobacco use, which remains the world’s leading preventable cause of death, killing more than seven million people each year.”

They disclosed that global tobacco control measures have saved nearly 35 million lives around the world, even though; tobacco industry is pushing to find new users.

Various participants attended the event were of the opinion that the event will serve as avenue “to address this epidemic by working together to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure. Tobacco has no benefits to humanity whatsoever as the tobacco industry is poisoning people to death,”

Given that tobacco use kills more than seven million people worldwide each year, stakeholders at the event proposed that to save lives, governments across the globe must stand up to the tobacco industry and fully implement the proven strategies called for by the tobacco control treaty, the FCTC. These include significant tobacco tax increases, comprehensive smoke-free laws, advertising bans and large, graphic health warnings.

“Now is the time for leaders to implement strong policies proven to protect their citizens from tobacco,” he appealed.

Courtesy:Journal du Cameroun

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India home to a high proportion of young smokers

Data from the Global Tobacco Atlas released recently indicates that despite lowering tobacco use in recent years, India is home to an estimated 625,000 child smokers in the age group of 10 to 14 years. More than 932,600 Indian lives are lost to tobacco-related diseases every year. Further, the economic burden of smoking is very high in India and this includes both direct cost of healthcare and the indirect cost of lost productivity.

Use of tobacco is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, pulmonary diseases and certain types of cancers.

Speaking about this, Padma Shri Awardee Dr K K Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI) and Immediate Past National President Indian Medical Association (IMA), said, “One of the major causes for continued tobacco consumption in India is the fact that it is a part of the country’s social culture. Kids start smoking even before they’re old enough to think about the risks; after starting they rapidly become addicted to smoking and then regret it later. Smoking aggravates bone loss and is a risk factor for hip fracture. It is responsible for more than 10% of heart blockage diseases all over the world and 33% of all cardiac deaths. Any form of tobacco like snuff, chewing, and dipping varieties which are not burnt can be termed as smokeless, another variant that is harmful to health. Smokeless forms also contain sugar and prolonged usage can adversely affect control of blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes.”

It is a common practice in India to use SLT mixed with areca nut. Areca nut itself is classified as a class one carcinogenic and also causes other adverse health effects.

Adding further, Dr Aggarwal, who is also the Vice President of CMAAO, said, “Quite often, we may rebuke a patient for failing in his efforts to quit smoking and say, ‘If you do not quit, you may die’. A statement worded as this may inadvertently sound discouraging to the patient. While it is important that people know the dangers of smoking or using tobacco products, a positive communication approach may have a more fruitful impact than a critical approach.”

HCFI tips to quit this habit.

· Try short-acting nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine gum, lozenges, nasal sprays, or inhalers. These can help overcome intense cravings.

· Identify the trigger situation, which makes you smoke. Have a plan in place to avoid these or get through them alternatively.

· Chew on sugarless gum or hard candy, or munch raw carrots, celery, nuts or sunflower seeds instead of tobacco.

· Get physically active. Short bursts of physical activity such as running up and down the stairs a few times can make a tobacco craving go away.

One approach to smoking cessation is the five-step algorithm called the “5 A’s” (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange)

All smokers should be advised to quit smoking.

Even brief advice to quit has been shown to increase quit rates.

Smokers be managed with a combination of behavioral support and pharmacologic therapy

Combination therapy is superior to either behavioral intervention or pharmacologic therapy alone.

Courtesy:The Health Site

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Detrimental Tobacco

Let me start by saying that I don't want to sound like a fanatic, for I don't suggest anything that I can't do myself. I quit smoking recently. And that's no small feat. Tobacco is the most common form of addiction and one of the most harmful as well, much more than the dreaded cannabis or for that matter Ecstasy, let alone alcohol.

If, and I know it's a big if, alcohol is consumed in moderation at a decent pace, half an hour for a peg, it's actually medicinal. But there's no safe amount of consumption of tobacco products. And for a young country like India, where half of the population is below 25 years of age, tobacco is doom. The greatest challenge before India, as a nation, is to exploit the incredible demographic potential—and inculcating a sports culture is the most effective way of doing it. Tobacco is the surest and easiest way of squandering it.

Simply put, tobacco is a significant public health hazard, and something urgently needs to be done to discourage people from tobacco consumption. Just to give an idea of the enormity of the problem, globally, tobacco kills more people than tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria combined. Remember, smoking a cigarette is just one of many ways of consuming tobacco. The consumption of smokeless tobacco in the form of snuff, chewing tobacco, tobacco leaf and gutkha is widespread amongst all age groups in India. There's no escape, every second Indian is hooked on to one or the other form of tobacco consumption, and more often than not, it contributes to oral submucosal fibrosis or OSF.

More Indians chew tobacco than they smoke cigarettes or beedis, the figures are 26 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, according to the Indian government and the World Health Organisation's Global Adult Tobacco Survey of 2009-2010. Not surprisingly, nearly 80 per cent of oral cancer patients are tobacco users.

Recently, the Indian Journal of Medical of Pediatrics published a study by Gauravi Mishra, Sharmila A Pimple and Surendra S Shastri that pointed to the fact that India is the second-largest consumer of tobacco globally, and accounts for approximately one-sixth of the world's tobacco-related deaths. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey paints a grim picture of India. It was carried out amongst students of classes VIII, IX and X, or roughly of the 13-16 age group. It was found that 15 per cent of students used tobacco products, mostly chewing tobacco (nearly 80 per cent).

Despite this, not much has been done to curtail tobacco consumption. One of the main reasons is that the tobacco industry is fairly influential. It has been boasting about its contribution to the Indian economy at large by generating employment in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors along with revenues in the form of exports and taxes, as a justification to be allowed to play with the health of our country's people. But one doesn't need rocket science to understand that the public health hazard caused by tobacco outweighs all economic benefits many times over.

In the past, many states have tried to ban chewing tobacco but with little success. Take the case of gutka, a concoction of raw betel nut mixed with tobacco, which has been banned for some years now. To circumvent this, many tobacco companies started selling gutka discreetly, by selling pan masala paired with a separate sachet of tobacco. Though this may seem harmless, tobacco sold in small portions in a sachet actually facilitates its use primarily amongst teenagers. Many celebrities, from the film industry to sports, campaign for tobacco products, in spite of the repeated persuasion against doing so. Tobacco, sadly, has become an integral part of life in cities and villages.

I specialise in youth outreach programmes by the way of sports. And tobacco consumption is a great impediment to the objective of creating a healthy society that is committed to playing sports. Children and the unemployed youth are hard-pressed for money, and their consumption of tobacco products is highly susceptible to strong fiscal measures.The availability of tobacco products in smaller quantities, in sachets and cigarettes sold by individual sticks, make it accessible to all, even children. Ideally, the government should ban the consumption of tobacco. But, till the time it's done, at least the government should ensure two things. One, those that are 18 years and below are not to be sold any tobacco product. And two, the sale of tobacco products in small quantities, especially sachets which cost merely Rs 5 to 10, should be banned at the earliest. This will effectively curtail the access of tobacco products to sub-adults. No half measures will suffice in the fight against tobacco. Ban tobacco. 

Courtesy: Millennium Post

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Sale Of Gutkha In Maharashtra Will Become A Non-Bailable Offence, Says Govt

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday told the Legislative Council that sale of gutka, banned in the state, would be made a non-bailable offence.

Punishment for the offence would be enhanced to three years in prison, the government said.

Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde alleged through a calling attention motion that though anti-gutka laws are in place, gutka -- a scented tobacco mix -- is smuggled from neighbouring states.

Smuggling happens with connivance of corrupt officials in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the NCP leader alleged, demanding an inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

In response, Minister of State for FDA Madan Yerawar said gutka is manufactured in other states where it is not banned, and the Maharashtra FDA, since 2012-13, has seized gutka worth Rs 114.2 crore.

Munde said Maharashtra has the highest number of youth falling prey to cancer due to chewing of gutka. He demanded inquiry into continuing sale of gutka despite the ban.

FDA minister Girish Bapat said that currently the sale of gutka is a bailable offence with a punishment of a maximum of six months in prison.

The government has held discussions with the Director General of Police and the Law and Judiciary Department, and will make the offence non-bailable, he said.

"The Centre has given us the permission to do so. Once the technicalities are sorted out (and the amendment made), those found guilty will have to face a rigorous imprisonment for three years," the senior minister said.


An inquiry by the vigilance squad of the FDA is underway into illegal sale of gutka, and the government will order a CID probe if the Leader of Opposition is still not satisfied with its report when it comes out, Bapat assured.

Courtesy:Outlook India

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Increase in cigarette prices may reduce smoking in elderly

Raising cigarette prices by a dollar can increase the possibility of older people quitting smoking by 20 per cent, researchers say.

“Older smokers have been smoking for a long time and tend to have lower rates of smoking cessation compared to younger populations, suggesting deeply entrenched behaviour that is difficult to change,” said lead author Stephanie Mayne, a doctoral student at the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois.

“Our finding that increase in cigarette prices were associated with quitting smoking in the older population suggests cigarette taxes may be a particularly effective lever for behaviour change,” Mayne added.

The researchers looked at included smokers ranging in age from 44 to 84 and stretched across six different places. In addition to finding that current smokers were 20 per cent more likely to quit smoking when pack prices went up by a dollar, researchers’ team showed there was a three per cent overall reduction in smoking risk. However, when the data was narrowed to heavy smokers, there was a seven per cent reduction in risk.

When prices increased by a dollar, heavy smokers also showed a 35 per cent reduction in the average number of cigarettes they smoked per day, compared to 19 per cent less in the overall smoking population.

“Since heavy smokers smoke more cigarettes per day initially, they may feel the impact of a price increase to a greater degree and be more likely to cut back on the number of cigarettes they smoke on a daily basis,” Mayne explained.

According to the senior author on the study, the local relationship between smoking habits and cigarette prices is an understudied but important area to look at. “Results on this topic primarily have come from population surveillance. But we had neighborhood tobacco price data and could link that to a cohort of individuals who were followed for about 10 years,” said Amy Auchincloss, PhD, Associate Professor, Dornsife School of Public Health.

Based on results from this study published in the journal Epidemiology, raising cigarette prices appears to be a better strategy for encouraging smoking cessation across all ages.

Source: IndianExpress

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Tax burden on cigarettes to go up by Rs 4.8-7.9 per 10 sticks

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Monday decided to increase the cess on cigarettes to offset a reduced tax revenue from the product following the 1 July rollout of the indirect tax reform.

Accordingly, the tax burden on cigarettes will go up by Rs 4.8-7.9 per 10 sticks, depending on their length and whether or not they have filters. Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who briefed reporters after the GST Council meeting held via videoconferencing, said the increase in cigarette cess will benefit the exchequer by about Rs 5,000 crore a year.

“Each state specifically responded positively (to the proposal) and this change will be effected from midnight (of Tuesday),” said Jaitley.

The GST Council decided to meet on Monday, advancing its meeting scheduled for the first week of August, to address the issue. A statement issued after the GST Council meeting said the method of calibrating the GST compensation cess on cigarettes did not take into consideration the cascading of taxes that existed in the earlier regime, which has now disappeared, thus leading to a reduction in the tax burden on the item.

In the earlier indirect tax regime, state level value-added tax used to be levied on the commodity which included the excise duty, resulting in a tax on tax. In the GST regime, such anomalies have been removed.

“While any reduction in tax incidence on items of mass consumption would be welcome, the same would be unacceptable in case of demerit goods like cigarettes,” said the statement, explaining the rationale behind the move.

Pratik Jain, partner and leader of the indirect tax practice at PwC India, said that more than the tactical move to increase the cess, the GST Council meeting had shown its inclination and flexibility to take quick decisions.

“One would hope that a few other issues such as GST rates on existing car leases, ambit of registered trade mark for taxation of packed food products etc, are addressed in the next meeting,” said Jain.

The GST Council meeting on Monday was the first after the roll-out of the indirect tax reform a fortnight ago.

“So far, the functioning has been smooth. The central and state governments are addressing the queries being raised,” said Jaitley.

Prashant Deshpande, partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, said implementation has so far been far smoother than anticipated, but the robustness of the information technology infrastructure supporting GST would be put to test at the time of filing of returns.

Vishal Raheja, senior consultant, Taxmann, a tax services provider, said the increase in cess will push up prices of cigarettes considerably. “The increased cess is in addition to the highest rate of GST i.e. 28% and ad valorem cess of 5%,” he noted.

Source: Livemint

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GST Council raises cess on cigarettes to fix anomaly under GST

The goods and services tax (GST) Council raised the cess on cigarettes Monday to address an anomaly under the new regime that had resulted in lower tax incidence than before. The move will raise the prices of cigarettes that had fallen under the GST regime, which rolled out July 1. 

Cigarette maker ITC had been the biggest gainer from the anomaly with its stock rising nearly 10% from end-June levels, more than double the rise in the broader market over this period. An ITC spokesperson said the company was studying the details of the move. The increase in cess ranges from `485 per 1,000 sticks for filter cigarettes of up to 65 mm length to `792 per 1,000 sticks for those of 70-75 mm. In the case of other filter cigarettes, the tariff will rise by 31%. The new rates took effect at midnight. 

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the anomaly would have cost the government Rs 5,000 crore in tax and benefited companies in the sector. 

"GST Council meeting was called after an anomaly was detected in the compensation cess on cigarretes. Impact of the cascading was not factored in, which resulted in windfall gains for cigarette companies... This was not the intention of the GST Council," Jaitley said, adding that the council reviewed the cess on cigarettes and decided to increase it. The council met via videoconference. 

TAX ANOMALY 

The weighted average value added tax (VAT) rate on cigarettes was 28.7% and in line with that, GST was kept at 28%. In addition, compensation cess was to be levied at 1.05 times the specific rate, or 5% extra, the specific excuse duty rates. 

"However, this method of calibrating the compensation cess did not take into consideration cascading of taxes (that is, in earlier regime, VAT being charged on value inclusive of the excise duty). As a result, the total tax incidence on cigarettes in GST regime has come down, as compared to the total tax in pre-GST regime," the finance ministry said in a statement. "While any reduction in tax incidence on items of mass consumption would be welcome, the same would be unacceptable in case of demerit goods like cigarettes." 

Source: The Hindu

The tax rate of 28% and ad valorem cess of 5% remains the same except in the case of other items falling in the cigarette category. 

Source: Economic Times

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