Ireland needs to tax cigarettes more to join top anti-smoking countries, world conference told
This week, Dublin is hosting the World Conference on Tobacco Control, which was addressed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin yesterday, who as health minister, introduced the ban on smoking in public places in 2004.
However, the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report, launched at the conference, said just four countries – Brazil, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Turkey – have implemented all the World Health Organisation's (WHO) MPOWER tobacco control measures to reduce tobacco use, which is claiming more than seven million lives a year.
The measures include smoke-free air laws, help for people quitting, health warnings and making cigarettes less affordable than in 2014. Ireland falls down in not having taxes that meet the less affordable than 2014 measure.
It is one of seven countries just one measure away from achieving the full implementation of the MPOWER package, signifying the highest level of tobacco control, along with Ethiopia, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia and Spain. The conference was told that, since 2007, 155 countries had implemented at least one of the tobacco control measures to reduce tobacco use at best-practice level. Today, over 6.1 billion people – three-quarters of the world's population – are protected by at least one such policy, compared to just one billion in 2007.
Forty countries still have no MPOWER measure at best-practice level and more than 30 countries allow cigarette sales without mandatory health warnings.
'Twenty years since the adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, we have many successes to celebrate, but the tobacco industry continues to evolve and so must we,' WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the conference.
'By uniting science, policy and political will, we can create a world where tobacco no longer claims lives, damages economies or steals futures. Together, we can end the tobacco epidemic.'
The WHO report reveals that the most striking gains have come from graphic health warnings, one of the key measures under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
They are now required in 110 countries – up from just nine in 2007 – protecting 62pc of the global population, while 25 countries have adopted plain packaging.
The WHO warned, however, that enforcement is inconsistent, and smokeless tobacco packaging remains poorly regulated. The new report is accompanied by a new data portal that tracks country-by-country progress between 2007 and this year.
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Irish Independent
7 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Ireland needs to tax cigarettes more to join top anti-smoking countries, world conference told
This week, Dublin is hosting the World Conference on Tobacco Control, which was addressed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin yesterday, who as health minister, introduced the ban on smoking in public places in 2004. However, the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report, launched at the conference, said just four countries – Brazil, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Turkey – have implemented all the World Health Organisation's (WHO) MPOWER tobacco control measures to reduce tobacco use, which is claiming more than seven million lives a year. The measures include smoke-free air laws, help for people quitting, health warnings and making cigarettes less affordable than in 2014. Ireland falls down in not having taxes that meet the less affordable than 2014 measure. It is one of seven countries just one measure away from achieving the full implementation of the MPOWER package, signifying the highest level of tobacco control, along with Ethiopia, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia and Spain. The conference was told that, since 2007, 155 countries had implemented at least one of the tobacco control measures to reduce tobacco use at best-practice level. Today, over 6.1 billion people – three-quarters of the world's population – are protected by at least one such policy, compared to just one billion in 2007. Forty countries still have no MPOWER measure at best-practice level and more than 30 countries allow cigarette sales without mandatory health warnings. 'Twenty years since the adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, we have many successes to celebrate, but the tobacco industry continues to evolve and so must we,' WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the conference. 'By uniting science, policy and political will, we can create a world where tobacco no longer claims lives, damages economies or steals futures. Together, we can end the tobacco epidemic.' The WHO report reveals that the most striking gains have come from graphic health warnings, one of the key measures under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). They are now required in 110 countries – up from just nine in 2007 – protecting 62pc of the global population, while 25 countries have adopted plain packaging. The WHO warned, however, that enforcement is inconsistent, and smokeless tobacco packaging remains poorly regulated. The new report is accompanied by a new data portal that tracks country-by-country progress between 2007 and this year.
Irish Examiner
19 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Tobacco industry 'aggressively targeting' young people to boost sales of vapes and e-cigarettes, WHO warns
The World Health Organization has warned the tobacco industry is 'aggressively targeting' young people to boost sales of vapes and e-cigarettes even as governments target tobacco sales. Governments have been urged to resist industry interference in their tobacco control policies. The World Conference on Tobacco Control, which opened in Dublin on Monday, also heard the war in Ukraine had led to increased e-cigarette use among young people. A WHO report published on Monday found a series of health measures — known as Mpower — now cover more than 6.1 billion people, representing over 75% of the world's population. These include monitoring of tobacco use, offering help to quit, and raising taxes. However, the WHO warned about limited use of taxes, even though this is seen as the single most useful measure in reducing tobacco use. Ireland is one of just 14 countries with total tax on tobacco at or above 75% recorded in every WHO report on this topic since 2008. WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed increased use of these measures, but warned about rising use of e-cigarettes. 'The tobacco and related industries are aggressively targeting young people with e-cigarettes and other new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products,' he said. The evidence is clear: e-cigarettes are harmful, particularly for children and adolescents. We cannot allow a new generation to become dependent on nicotine. Protecting young people from these products must be a top priority. He called on governments to make sure 'tobacco control policies remain robust in the face of industry interference". Tobacco is 'responsible for over seven million deaths annually, as well as disability and long-term suffering from tobacco-related diseases', the report said. Many speakers focused on links between tobacco use and non-communicable disease (NCD) such as cancer or stroke. NCD Alliance policy and advocacy adviser Alison Cox said: 'Every second, 28 people lose their lives to an NCD and of those, 25 live in low- or middle-income countries' today. These illnesses, including those caused by tobacco use, cost global economies trillions of euro every year, she pointed out. 'There are industries out there — tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy foods, fossil fuels driving air pollution — who are making massive profit, and they're externalising their costs onto the rest of the economy,' she warned. A speaker from Ukraine described how young people were vaping more now in parallel with increased tobacco use since the all-out Russian invasion in 2022. Andrii Skipalskyi, unit lead for NCD management at the WHO Ukraine country office, said work on public health had continued despite the pressures of the war. 'We fight and we continue reforms, we can't abandon it,' he said. He described how data shows conflict-related problems, including young people being displaced from their homes, is 'clearly associated' with use of e-cigarettes and tobacco products in parallel. 'We can see that in the adult population we don't observe any increase in smoking prevalence despite the war and hard economic and socio-economic circumstances,' he said. However, a trend for downward use among young people is changing, he explained. He described this as 'a mixed picture', saying they can now see 'a slight increase' in use of products such as heated tobacco and e-cigarettes. Their data showed this is linked to poly-use — people using tobacco products and e-cigarettes or heated tobacco. Read More Cork County Council likely to ban smoking and vaping at all its amenity areas
Irish Daily Mirror
19 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Taoiseach Micheál Martin vows to come down even harder on sale of vapes
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has vowed that further legislation cracking down on vapes will be introduced to target flavoured and disposable products. He made the comments at the World Conference on Tobacco Control, which is taking place this week at the Dublin Convention Centre. Under plans devised by former health minister Stephen Donnelly, a new licensing system for the retail sale of tobacco products and nicotine-inhaling products such as e-cigarettes will be introduced in February 2026. This will enable retail outlets to obtain annual licences to sell these products. Despite Cabinet approving plans in September 2024 to ban disposable vapes and flavours, the Irish Mirror understands there is still no date for the implementation of the plans. A ban on disposable vapes came into effect in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK on June 1. The Taoiseach vowed on Monday that the legislation will be introduced and there will be a further crackdown on the products. Mr Martin said: 'I'm a very strong opponent of vapes and I have been from the beginning. 'There was very little due diligence done in terms of the composition of vapes and in terms of their impact on health. 'It's quite extraordinary that products of that kind got on the market and onto the shelves without any real health and safety analysis. That has always been my position. 'Any measures that reduce or eliminate vapes from the perspective of public health is a good thing. 'Ireland has made significant moves on that front. We will have significant restrictions coming in next February as a result of the legislation passed by the last Government. 'There is further legislation being planned in terms of the sale of disposable, the use of flavours, and I would see this as a continuation of measures that were adopted last year." He added: 'Certainly, I would favour the strongest possible measures against vaping. I spoke to [Former Chief Medical Adviser to the US President] Dr [Anthony] Fauci when he was in Dublin last year, and I spoke to a lot of public health experts. 'A lot of research has been undertaken now highlighting the dangers posed by vapes to the lungs of people and potential health conditions that can arise after use.'
