Financial instruments can influence the pricing of unhealthy products and improve public health.
This was discussed at the international summit on tobacco harm reduction, held at the end of September in Athens. Speaking at the event, the head of the Clinic of Allergology, Pulmonary and Internal Organ Diseases of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration Hospital in Warsaw and Chairman of the Board of the Polish Association of Public Health, Professor Andrzej Fal, said that the World Health Organization has lost the fight against tobacco smoking. In 2015, there were 1.1 billion smokers in the world, in 2023 - 1.3 billion. Even against the backdrop of a growing global population, the number of smokers is not decreasing at all. At the same time, a number of countries have achieved significant success in reducing the number of smokers: Great Britain, where differentiated taxation of tobacco and tobacco-containing products has been applied since the 1970s, by 2023 10% of the population or a third of smokers have completely abandoned this bad habit. The greatest success has been achieved by Sweden, which has reduced the number of smokers from 15% of the population to 5.6% in 15 years by offering smokers alternatives and supporting these alternatives with lower taxes compared to traditional cigarettes. “By providing consumers with alternatives rather than banning them, and by strengthening prevention and education measures, Sweden has achieved the world's best reduction in smoking rates,” said Andrzej Fal. In his opinion, regulation of this industry should be adapted to each country. There are states in which the taxation of traditional tobacco products and alternative products is equal, despite the fact that the alternative ones cause less harm to health, but this loses people whom the state does not encourage to switch to less harmful products, and loses the budget - both due to direct losses, including due to the growth of smuggling due to high prices, and due to increased healthcare budgets for the treatment of diseases caused by smoking and temporary disability of patients. The professor emphasized that alternative products are also harmful, but they are less harmful than traditional cigarettes. A lot of research has been conducted on this matter, and if the state does not believe in existing research, let them order an independent examination with public money. But instead, there is a denial of technology and new prohibitions appear. To reduce the number of smokers in Poland, for example, Andrzej Fal, commissioned by the government, conducted research and proposed creating a clinic for those who want to quit smoking in each administrative unit (for about 50 thousand people). In such a clinic, those who wish will be offered alternatives, psychological and other assistance to reduce the harm from tobacco use. Answering the question of who will pay for the work of such clinics, he said that funds should be allocated from the health care budget, since preventive medicine is much cheaper than practical medicine and, as a result, health care budgets will only benefit.//05.10.2023 – InfoMarket.
