Watch the video above: A new study suggests hiking tobacco taxes to cut smoking rates. Carolyn Mackenzie reports.
TORONTO – Two leading tobacco control experts are urging countries to significantly boost tobacco taxes to reach a global anti-smoking goal.
Dr. Prabhat Jha of the University of Toronto and Oxford University professor Sir Richard Peto say it’s the best way to cut the prevalence of smoking by one-third by 2025.
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They say a steep rise in tobacco excise taxes would double the cost of cigarettes on the street in developing countries, where prices are currently low.
They say this approach has resulted in substantial reductions in the number of smokers in countries that have used it, including Canada and France.
The professors make their arguements in a paper published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.
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They say that if current smoking patterns continue unchecked about one billion people will die from tobacco-related causes this century.
The annual general meeting of the World Health Organization issued the challenge to governments to reduce smoking among their populations by 2025.
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