In some developed countries, consumers have begun to restrict and warn social activities that smoking is harmful to health through advertisements for many years, so as to get rid of old habits, but in some poor countries, tobacco consumption is still increasing substantially. Generally speaking, the sales of cigarettes are increasing.
Last September, 65,438+00 countries in Southeast Asia agreed to support WHO's initiative to ban tobacco advertising globally. Some poor countries will certainly pass domestic laws to curb the growth of tobacco consumption, but these measures are strongly opposed by the tobacco industry and those industries sponsored by tobacco (from sports to culture). These tobacco-sponsored industries, from sports to culture, are sponsored by the tobacco industry. A survey of 400 films recently published in Bollywood, India shows that 320 of them contain smoking scenes, which are usually displayed in a positive way. If these countries have an international convention to control tobacco use, it will strengthen the means of health management.
This meeting is likely to give finance ministers an excuse to add a new "health" tax to the tobacco industry. Last week, smokers in Singapore were shocked by the 40% tax increase, which the government thought was to curb smoking among young women. But these tax increases will also help the finance minister control the potential fiscal deficit. A few days ago, India's finance minister announced a new plan to increase government revenue by raising tobacco taxes. Hong Kong's budget on March 5 also plans to raise tobacco taxes to help narrow the gap with the budget. Some international organizations, such as the World Bank, also believe that high taxes will limit the development of tobacco, although there is not much evidence to support this. Because they rely on tobacco taxes, if finance ministers around the world really think that such measures can make smokers quit smoking, they will not be so keen on raising taxes. In addition to prohibiting cigarette advertising as much as possible in the Constitution, the WHO draft convention also requires that health warnings be affixed to cigarette packets that account for at least 30% of the size, and the use of words such as "soft" and "low tar" is restricted. It urges the government to impose higher taxes on cigarette materials and make it clear through laws that tobacco companies should be responsible for the health hazards caused by smoking. Britain is currently one of the countries with the heaviest tobacco tax in the world. Last month, it completely banned tobacco advertising ahead of schedule. The European Union also agreed to ban tobacco companies from sponsoring first-class motorcycle races from 2005.
The position of the United States is just the opposite. On the one hand, at the ministerial meeting in May, it will seek the right of choice in treaties that it considers impossible to accept; On the other hand, the United States is also one of the first countries to ban tobacco advertisements on TV, and has the strongest law in the world to protect passive smokers from inhaling smokers' smoke in public places. The four largest tobacco groups in the United States will pay $206 billion in 25 years.
Even though some big cigarette producing countries will weaken the tobacco convention at the summit in May, the global restrictions on tobacco are still strengthening. At the same time, some countries began to adjust their policies and opposed the use of some soft drugs, especially marijuana. Will these two trends meet one day?
It is not difficult to understand that people who profit from tobacco will naturally preach that people have the right to choose whether to smoke or not. At the same time, the production and sale of tobacco also involves many huge interest chains, and addictive goods are best sold, which is incomparable to other industries.
Therefore, it is reasonable that it is difficult to eradicate for a while. As long as more and more people don't smoke, the overall situation will gradually change.