Higher Taxes Needed to Lower Smoking Rates in South Asia
New research published in The British Medical Journal supports the need to increase taxes on tobacco products in South Asia, suggesting that doing so could reduce consumption by at least 1/3 and, in turn, avoid around 35 - 45 million premature deaths. Previous research has shown raising taxes on tobacco products to be the most effective way of lowering smoking rates and putting people off from starting.
This latest paper also calls for South Asian countries to implement the World Health Organization’s global tobacco control treaty's demand-reduction initiatives. The treaty obligates countries committed to it to increase tobacco taxes, create smoke-free publics spaces, add warning labels to tobacco products, implement a comprehensive advertising ban and support smoking cessation services.