Effective tobacco taxation can save lives, the planet

Tobacco use is killing us and our planet. Tobacco use kills eight million people every year, including 9,000 in Kenya.

The economic costs of tobacco-attributable disease on the Kenyan economy is estimated at Sh15 billion yearly.

Tobacco smokers cut their life expectancy by at least 13 years compared to non-smokers. Exposure to second-hand smoke is a serious health hazard, causing more than 41,000 deaths annually.

Pregnant women who are exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to have a complication before and after childbirth.

Children are not immune to this danger either; every year, 150, 000 children under five years are killed by second-hand smoke.

The deleterious effect of tobacco extends to smokeless tobacco, also a known cause of cancer. The nicotine in smokeless tobacco, which is higher among females, increases the risk of sudden death due to irregular heartbeat.

Tobacco use is not only killing people; it also poisons the environment. And it endangers the health of the planet with an environmental burden of 600 million trees cut down annually for tobacco production, 200,000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water and 84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

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In addition, agrochemicals used in tobacco cultivation poisons the land, soil and water. This leads to food insecurity because tobacco farming diverts agricultural land that could otherwise be used to grow food.

Cigarette smoking alone pollutes the air 10 times more than diesel gas emissions.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 4.5 trillion cigarette filters pollute the oceans, rivers, soil and beaches every year.

Moreover, according to Truth Initiatives, about 4,211,962 cigarette butts were collected from beaches and waterways in 2019, making them the world’s second-most common type of environmental litter after food wrappers.

Cigarette butts contain toxic chemicals such as nicotine and heavy metals, which poses grave danger to aquatic life and microorganism.

Tax on tobacco, passed on to smokers in the form of excise duty on cigarettes, has widely been embraced not only as one of the most effective control strategies for decreasing smoking and its adverse health consequences but also effective strategy for reducing its environmental hazards of tobacco.

WHO research show an increase in tax on cigarettes reduces consumption and raises government revenue. That means smokers with low incomes bear the brunt of the effects of tobacco consumption as they are more sensitive to price changes in tobacco products.

Significant effect

An increase in prices has a significant effect in suppressing consumption, improving public health on aggregate. Besides, vaping or e-cigarettes should be highly discouraged as it is as harmful and addictive as traditional cigarette.

Increased tobacco taxation and an effective system should be made top health policy priority. The twinned viable elements to put into consideration are: To extend regulations and tax policy on tobacco products and sales to eliminate single-use filters and reduce post-consumption waste; and to earmark tobacco tax revenue to improve public health and safeguard the environment.

Mr Ochieng is a communication practitioner. [email protected].