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France to crack down on smoking – minister

Neutral cigarette packaging, more taxes and an extension of smoking bans in public areas - these are some of the initiatives announced by France's health minister in a new crackdown on smoking.

Published: 5 September 2012 11:33 CEST

France to crack down on smoking - minister

Ta Duc

One in three people in France smokes, and 73,000 deaths per year are due to smoking-related illnesses.

In a bid to reduce this figure, health secretary Marisol Touraine has already introduced a 40 centime hike in tax on cigarettes, due to start on October 1.

Other initiatives, such as packaging without logos, further smoking bans and tax increases on cheaper tobacco products more frequently bought by younger smokers, are due to be introduced in the next few weeks.

Money raised from the increase of taxes, expected to reach €200 million, will go towards health programmes helping people with their nicotine addiction.

But tobacconists have already expressed concerns for the effect the new initiatives will have on their businesses.

Pascal Montredon, president of the Confederation of Tobacconists, said : “They tells us that the price of cigarettes will continue to increase, but at a rate of 6 or 7 percent per year a packet will be €10 at the end of [the Socialist Party’s] five years in power. It’s just madness.”

A day of protest against the new anti-smoking plans is being organised this Thursday in more than 100 towns across the country.

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Spain plans to get people to quit smoking

How Spain plans to get people to stop smoking. Photo: Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP

For many outsiders, Spain is a nation of smokers.

The stats from Spain’s Ministry of Health show that 23.3 percent of men smoke every day in Spain, compared with 16.4 percent of women.

For both males and females, the highest number of smokers are aged between 25 and 34, meaning that it’s the younger population who are smoking slightly more than the older generations.

Spain’s pulmonologists are now pushing for the country’s tobacco laws to be tightened, claiming that reform is needed after the last legislation was approved a decade ago.

READ ALSO: Spain warns against smoking and vaping in public to avoid Covid infections

Why is smoking such a problem in Spain and what is being done about it?

The latest stats from the Spanish Ministry of Health show that lung cancer, often caused by smoking, is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer in Spain, with 29,549 cases diagnosed so far in 2021.

Given these high figures Spain’s Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) has proposed five measures to help get people to stop smoking.

SEPAR points out that every time anti-smoking legislation is reformed and things for smokers made more difficult, the prevalence of smoking decreases.

Smoking on terraces was banned in some regions during the pandemic. Photo: CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP

Price of tobacco to rise in 2022

The first point on their list is to raise the price of tobacco, which must cover all forms, from cigarettes to cigars, through to rolling tobacco, and electronic cigarettes.

This first measure may soon become a reality as the Spanish government has already predicted that the price of tobacco will rise in 2022, after several years of stagnation.

It is expected that tobacco will be responsible for almost a third of all special taxes received in 2022, equating to €21.8 billion.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “cheap tobacco” in Spain guarantees “a percentage of smokers above 30 percent”.

In Spain, the price of a pack of tobacco is around €5, which is much cheaper than in other countries. In Australia for example, a pack of tobacco costs around €22, and in the United Kingdom and France, each pack of tobacco costs around €12.4 and €10.5, respectively.

According to Dr. Carlos A. Jiménez Ruiz, pulmonologist and president of the society, the current anti-smoking law has “some deficiencies” that need to be addressed in order to develop legislation that is more effective and efficient, especially with regard to the prevention of tobacco consumption in young people, but also in helping smokers to stop smoking and in protecting the health of non-smokers.

READ ALSO – Maps: Which beaches in Spain have banned smoking?

Besides increasing the cost of tobacco SEPAR proposes four other measures to get Spain to quit smoking. These include:

Banning the consumption of tobacco in public spaces, even outdoors
During the pandemic, several regions approved a regulation to prohibit smoking on terraces. SEPAR proposes that smoking be prohibited not only in spaces such as terraces but also in sports stadiums, beaches, parks and bullrings, and that fines should be imposed for those who do not comply.
Establish generic packaging
SEPAR also wants Spain to introduce generic packaging, which means no logos and images of the tobacco companies. This measure has also proven to lower the sales of tobacco in countries where it has been implemented, such as Australia and New Zealand. According to the latest statistics from the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey around 11.6 percent of adults in Australia smoke daily.
The regulation of other smoking devices
Despite the fact that all products that burn tobacco such as cigarettes are already regulated, SEPAR believes that it is also necessary to regulate the sale, consumption and advertising of electronic cigarettes. This is because e-cigarettes have become particularly popular among young people.
Promote help for those seeking to quit smoking
The last proposal is the creation and development of special units in public health departments to help people to stop smoking and to put more funds towards these programmes.

How does Spain compare with other European countries when it comes to smoking?

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), while Spain does have a high number of smokers there are still several European countries that have more. The European countries with the highest number of smokers are Greece, Bulgaria and Hungary.

The latest European survey from 2020 shows that 42 percent of Greeks claim to be smokers, which is only slightly above Spain.

On the other side, the European countries with the lowest number of smokers are mainly Nordic countries, such as Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

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