May 2021
GAZETTE
SMOKING KILLS 123 ARGENTINES PER DAY AND COSTS ALMOST $200.000 MILLION PER YEAR
AN INVESTIGATION DETERMINED THAT TOBACCO CONSUMPTION CAUSES 14% OF THE DEATHS IN THE COUNTRY, THAT THE DISEASES IT CAUSES REQUIRE 7,6% OF ALL HEALTH EXPENDITURE TO BE EXPENDED AND THAT THE PRICE OF CIGARETTES INCREASES BY 50% THROUGH TAXES WOULD HAVE AN ECONOMIC BENEFIT OF ALMOST $600.000 MILLION.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, but its negative effects also affect the economy. In Argentina, smoking kills 123 people per day and costs $196.987 million per year for medical care in hospitals and health centers for the pathologies it causes, including cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular conditions. The data comes from a mathematical modeling study carried out by the Institute of Clinical and Health Effectiveness (IECS), an academic institution based in Buenos Aires affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).
The researchers also calculated that if taxes on tobacco products were increased, increasing its price by 50%, the country would obtain an economic benefit of $590.674 million coming mainly from cost savings in the health system and increased tax collection. It is an amount with which one could build, for example, 1.750 schools.
“Smoking is a major public health problem and our objective is to provide evidence so that governments and health systems adopt more effective and efficient public policies to combat it. In Argentina, Tobacco tax collection only covers 26% of what the country spends due to the direct and indirect damages and costs it produces.", explains the Dr. Andrés Pichon-Riviere, Doctor of Medicine, Master of Science and Clinical Epidemiology from Harvard University and executive director of the IECS.
“Despite the progress made in terms of taxes in recent years, the burden of disease due to smoking remains very high in Argentina, as well as the direct and indirect costs involved.. Cigarettes in Argentina are cheap and there is room to increase taxes. For the World Health Organization, increasing the price of cigarettes through taxes is the best measure to reduce the impacts of this epidemic," says the economist Alfredo Palacios, coordinator of Health Economics at the IECS and lead author of the study.
DISEASES AND DEATHS
In Argentina, it is estimated that 29,6% of men and 20,4% of women smoke. And that is not free for the economy and society. IECS researchers estimated that cigarettes produce each year in the country 101.736 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 61.470 from heart disease, 32.650 from pneumonia, 11.374 from cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and 19,178 from cancer, including 9.513 from lung.
Likewise, it is responsible for 9.972 deaths annual for heart disease; 9.153 due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); 8.593 for lung cancer; 5.757 for other cancers; 5.144 due to passive smoking and other causes; 3.915 for pneumonia; and 2.182 due to cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Together, these figures represent 14% of the annual deaths in the country.
Palacios explains that in the study they considered a common argument of the tobacco industry, which seeks to dissuade policies of increasing tobacco taxes by pointing out the potential of the illicit cigarette trade. “It's not worth it for legislators to waste time on that. Even in a pessimistic scenario of potential illicit trade, the country will obtain enormous benefits if the tobacco tax is increased," ensures
According to what the study reported, even considering a pessimistic scenario of potential illicit trade, increasing the price of cigarettes by 50% through taxes could save 17.440 lives in 10 years; avoid 74.040 diseases; and produce total economic benefits of $547.659 million.
The results are part of a research in which they collaborated more than 40 researchers and health decision-makers from universities, research centers and public institutions from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. The project was financed by International Development Research Center of Canada (IDRC) and the Institute of Cancer Research UK (ICR).
All information about this study is available at: www.iecs.org.ar/tobacco
ABOUT IECS: The IECS is an independent, non-profit academic institution dedicated to research, education and technical cooperation in health. Founded in 2002, it is an institution affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) that houses a CONICET executing unit, a WHO Collaborating center and a Cochrane Center. The mission of the IECS is “to contribute to improving global health, generating and promoting the application of the best scientific evidence.”
IECS PRESS CONTACT:
Lic. Mariana Comolli, Coordinator of the Communication Unit.
Tel.: (011) 4777-8767 ext. 133. mcomolli@iecs.org.ar