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'Nationalising' tobacco - A possible policy to save millions

July 01, 2006 Strategy and Policy by Hemant Goswami

Many found it an unusual conclusion (and some apparently radical) when speaking at the “Conference on Strategy Planning on Tobacco Control ” (in 2005) I suggested that “Nationalisation of the Tobacco Industry” is a possible solution to tackle the tobacco menace. Many jaws dropped and I could clearly see many mouths wide open on this suggestion; a few also labelled me as “Removed from the reality” and suggested me to become “Practical.”

Tags: Tobacco Industry, Tobacco, Strategy

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Should tobacco remain a consumer product? Any reasons?

May 30, 2006 Tobacco Control by Hemant Goswami

I am often intrigued by the fact that how come a consumer product which kills five million people worldwide still enjoys the status of a legal product. What perplexes me further is that even most of the hardcore tobacco control workers are still not thinking about ending tobacco as a consumer product and are not considering it as one of the options. Why? I have failed to understand this till now. Some believe that it can not be done as tobacco is very much a part of day-to-day life, others parrot the tobacco companies rhetoric that there has to be "Freedom of choice" and still some others are so deeply involved in microscopic technicalities that they even fail to see what is the most obvious and basic. More so, even the international treaty on tobacco control (FCTC) fails to envisage an end date for tobacco and among its objectives does not consider phasing out/ending tobacco consumption. This is despite the fact that tobacco consumption and production is still increasing exponentially.

Tags: General

Tobacco Facts

Tobacco use is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced.

There are more than one billion smokers in the world.
Globally, use of tobacco products is increasing, although it is decreasing in high-income countries.
Almost half of the world's children breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke.
The epidemic is shifting to the developing world.
More than 80% of the world's smokers live in low- and middle-income countries.
Tobacco use kills 5.4 million people a year - an average of one person every six seconds - and accounts for one in 10 adult deaths worldwide.
Tobacco kills up to half of all users.
It is a risk factor for six of the eight leading causes of deaths in the world.