ABSTRACT
Statistics show that with the strong health awareness and educational campaign of the anti-smoking lobby in the high-income countries, the rate of smoking is on the decline, especially among the male population. However, the rate of smoking is on the increase among the male population in the middle-income and the low-income countries and among the female population worldwide. Many people commence smoking at an early age with a significant proportion developing an addiction which makes breaking the habit of smoking very difficult. Tobacco manufacturers argue that people must have the freedom of choice and claim that their advertisements are aimed at shifting people’s preference from one brand to another, rather than encouraging tobacco consumption. The anti-smoking lobby argues that governments should intervene and ban smoking altogether. Their stance is based on the claim that smoking is additive and poses a cost burden to a society as a whole. Smokers counteract this argument by stating that they pay high tax as tobacco is one of the most highly taxed commodities around the world, and hence they pay their share of the medical expenses associated with smoking. However, this ignores the health care costs arising from declining non-smokers’ health as a result of passive smoking. From the governments’ point of view, while many governments acknowledge the high cost of smoking to the society, they are also happy to see the revenue continue to fill the purse of the treasuries. Another factor for consideration is the large number of jobs provided by the tobacco industry. The policy of increasing the tax on tobacco may reduce the demand for tobacco among the poor but may have little impact on the rich consumers. Tax policies, which increase the price of tobacco products, will be more effective in developing countries as consumers in these countries are more responsive to changes in the price of goods they purchase. To date, not much action has been taken to control the supply of tobacco. The only policy initiative in this direction is to control the sale of tobacco to minors.
