Corrected Version: Your Efforts Increase Awareness of Taxation as a Disease Prevention Tool

CALL TO ACTION

** Make your voice heard on our joint Statement of Purpose. There’s still time to provide your feedback - let us know what you think! **

We have the opportunity for progress on tobacco taxes – let’s grasp it

Let’s take advantage of growing interest in tax for disease prevention!

Dear Friend,

Over the last month, Prevent20 members have attended the Conference of Parties (COP) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the World Cancer Congress (WCC).

One key takeaway from both events is the extent to which taxation for disease prevention is becoming a mainstream topic rather than a niche issue for health economists. It’s a virtuous circle - the more people discuss this issue, the more understanding and confidence we can build to support this important health policy.

At COP the Global Strategy to Accelerate Tobacco Control was adopted as proposed, indicating strong support for the rapid implementation of key, proven tobacco control policies - including high tobacco taxes – among the global tobacco control community.

At WCC, the number of sessions on taxation was a sign of real progress. At the last WCC, the only session to discuss taxation was the breakfast briefing we used to launch Prevent20!

A key speaker at this WCC was Dr. Frank Chaloupka, a distinguished economist who spoke on the importance of taxation in reducing the harm of unhealthy products like alcohol – just as this strategy has been adopted to reduce tobacco use and the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages. Broadening the conversation about taxation for tobacco-related disease prevention across different risk factors helps to underline that this as a commonsense, mainstream policy. We’d like to progress this even further by the next WCC, so taxation and prevention is threaded throughout the program.

It was great to see many of you at the Prevent20 session at WCC. Some key issues arose during the debate, including how to combat the industry, especially in countries where speaking out is difficult, how to give cancer victims a voice, and how to approach smokeless tobacco, which also causes cancer. Look out for more Prevent20 tools and resources to help support our coalition in dealing with these issues.

There are two final takeaways from our discussions that day:

1. Many cancer organizations are in countries where there is progress on tobacco taxes – will you help colleagues in other countries by sharing your experience in a case study or providing technical assistance? Let us know!

2. Many cancer organizations are going to meetings with government but not taking the opportunity to mention tobacco taxes. Think about how you can weave this topic into your discussions. Take economic data about the harms of tobacco use and the potential benefits of increasing tobacco taxes to make your case. Reach out to the Prevent20 team for a fact sheet for your country and help with messaging. We’re here to help!

Our coalition and our message is being heard – let’s use this opportunity to re-double our efforts and help more countries to increase tobacco taxes to reduce cancer!

Events of Interest

Seventh Meeting of the Alliance of African and Mediterranean Francophone Leagues (ALIAM)

Symposium on: ''The role of smoking in the burden of cancer in Africa''

When: November 22 - 23, 2018

Where: Niamey, Niger

What: The Prevent 20 Coalition is delivering a session on “Advancing tobacco tax for cancer prevention” delivered by Francis Thompson, Executive Director, Framework Convention Alliance.

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New Research

A new paper from American Cancer Society’s Economic and Health Policy Research (EHPR) team has been published in leading journal Tobacco Control. The paper examines the impact of the ban on menthol cigarettes, implemented in 2015 in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. While the tobacco industry claimed this law would lead to a surge in illicit cigarettes, EHPR’s analysis of data from Nova Scotia’s Provincial Tax Commission reveals that this did not materialize. There were only a few small seizures of menthol cigarettes in the year following the ban, and none at all after that.

This important study is published as a growing number of jurisdictions consider bans on flavored tobacco products. More credible, independent (from industry influence) evidence on the illicit cigarette trade is urgently needed to support the implementation of different tobacco control policies – including taxes - and rebut the industry’s unproven messages. The Prevent20 coalition urges local research and health organizations to get in touch to access guidance or technical assistance and increase the number of independent research studies on illicit trade.

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