Price hike for tobacco would make many smokers quit

The latest research from Cancer Council Victoria which involved a telephone poll of 4,500 smokers, has found that almost three quarters of smokers surveyed would try to quit if the price of cigarettes rose by 50%.

QUIT Australia has said the findings will be used to pressure the Government to raise cigarette taxes as quitting will provide benefits for a person's health and pocket - the average one packet of cigarettes a day smoker will not only save about $5,000 a year and benefit their health.

QUIT says smoking remains the number one cause of preventable deaths, killing 15,000 Australians each year and a small price increase would not have the same effect as a larger price rise - a price hike of 50% would take the price of a packet of 30 cigarettes to around $20.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) of those smokers who are aware of the dangers of tobacco, three out of four are eager to quit.

The WHO says as a rule raising tobacco taxes by 10% will result in a 4% decrease in tobacco consumption in high-income countries such as Australia and by about 8% in low- and middle-income countries.

The WHO also says a 70% increase in the price of tobacco would prevent up to a quarter of all tobacco-related deaths among today's smokers - tobacco kills 5.4 million people a year from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses and that number is expected to rise to more than eight million a year by 2030.

Smoking is one of the main risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including cancer, lung diseases, and cardiovascular diseases and kills up to half of those who use it.

Nevertheless the WHO says tobacco use is common throughout the world due to low prices, aggressive and widespread marketing, lack of awareness about its dangers, and inconsistent public policies against its use.

While most developed countries are attempting to control the damage of the tobacco epidemic in a number of ways - by monitoring tobacco use and prevention, protecting people from tobacco smoke, offering help to quit tobacco use, warning people about the dangers of tobacco and also enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, restricting how cigarettes are sold and where they can be smoked - the epidemic is unfortunately now reaching the developing world.

Among the six most effective policies that can curb the tobacco epidemic outlined in WHO's MPOWER strategy and included above is raising taxes on tobacco.

A global tobacco industry marketing strategy that targets young people and adults in developing countries means 80% of tobacco-related deaths will occur in such countries within a few decades and women are the current and potential new market.