Global Smoking Rates on Decline Thanks to Demand-Reduction Measures
New research published in The Lancet Public Health suggests that global smoking rates have decreased by 2.5% following the introduction of the global tobacco control treaty. The treaty obligates the 180 countries committed to it to implement evidence-based policies which include 5 key measures:
- High taxes on tobacco
- Smoke-free public spaces
- Warning labels
- Comprehensive advertising bans
- Stop smoking support services
However, although the study shows that global smoking rates have fallen, they have not reduced enough to match the rate called for by the treaty. Indeed, despite progress worldwide, there is evidence of uneven implementation of the demand-reduction measures. Fuller implementation quicker could reduce tobacco use even more, according to the investigation.
Commenting on the research, Dr Kenneth E. Warner notes: "No study can do it all. The present undertaking is remarkably ambitious, examining, as it does, five distinct policy areas in well over 100 countries over a period spanning a decade. The authors deserve ample credit for reinforcing, with solid empirical evidence, the core message in the FCTC: tobacco control policy matters. The authors cite evidence that the FCTC has accelerated implementation of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship bans, smoke-free laws, and pack warning labels. Let us hope that this study increases adoption of all of the core evidence-based demand-reduction policy interventions, especially including raising taxes, the highly effective intervention that has lagged in terms of adoption."
