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Higher taxes on tobacco products recommended

DUBAI— Higher rates of taxation on tobacco products can help smokers kick the habit, experts opined at a meeting held in Dubai on Wednesday evening.

International and local experts from the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms) met on Wednesday evening to discuss a strategic plan to reduce the impact of smoking on health in the region.

Among the issues under discussion were the results of recent research carried out by Pfizer Inc, which has revealed that 54 per cent of smokers in the UAE were younger than 30 years of age.

Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, consultant family physician and head of the UAE’s Anti-Smoking Committee said, “Smoking is one of the major causes of preventable death in the region and we’ll continue to increase our efforts to reduce its impact.”

She explained that the MoH was mulling including taxes, banning advertisements, checking packaging, and labelling among several other points in the proposed draft Anti-Tobacco Law.

Meanwhile, talking about the World Health Organisation statistics for 2007, Dr Azan Binbrek, head of the Cardiology Department at Rashid Hospital, said, “This data shows that the percentage of smokers among the population of poor countries is significantly higher than that in rich countries.”

Giving the reasons, he said this could be attributed to reasons such as higher level of awareness in rich countries and higher prices of tobacco in these countries due to higher taxes.

“Therefore, I suggest that tobacco-related products should gradually be made more expensive so that they pose a burden on the pockets of smokers and force them to quit,” he added.