A new increase, but with what effect? Cigarette pack prices are expected to rise again on January 1, 2024, with an increase of between 40 and 50 cents, according to estimates by the Confederation of Tobacconists. This increase system complies with the law approved by Parliament in 2022, which plans to transfer inflation to the price of tobacco.
Opinions are divided on this gradual increase in cigarette packs. Interrogated by BFMTV, Bertrand Dautzenberg, pulmonologist, tobacco expert and general secretary of the Alliance Against Tobacco, considers that this announcement “has no public health interest” and describes it as an “economic measure.”
In 20 years, the price of a pack of cigarettes has tripled, going from four to twelve euros. If this increase over two decades has contributed to reducing the number of smokers, the Anti-Tobacco Alliance describes the gradual increase planned by the government as “lack of ambition.”
“What the Alliance against Tobacco is now asking for is the 15 euro package,” insists Bertrand Dautzenberg.
Steep rather than gradual increase
This type of increase is also denounced by Jean-Pierre Thierry, health advisor at BFMTV, who believes that “if we increase too little, we can reach inflation and risk being painless for the consumer who will not see the difference.”
“There is little chance that it will have a big impact on heavy smokers,” he cautions, however.
Guest on BFMTV this Tuesday morning, Olivier Smadja, tobacco specialist and project director at Public Health France (SpF), assures, however, that “the price is far from having reached its limit.” “In some countries in Europe and far beyond, the package can cost up to 20 or 30 euros,” he says.
However, according to him, the important thing is to reduce the prevalence of tobacco in France, especially among the youngest, while 12 million people among the French population declare themselves smokers and 24.5% of people between 18 and 75 years old. They claim to smoke daily. according to SpF figures. However, this drop in prevalence is, according to him, a longer-term objective.
“Reducing the prevalence of smoking is an objective that takes time, it is based on the fact that young people do not start and current ones stop. Time is needed between taking measures and reducing,” he says.
According to a report by Public Health France, after “a drop in smoking on an unprecedented scale in France between 2014 and 2019”, the prevalence stabilized as of 2020. To strike a serious blow, the Anti-Tobacco Alliance advocates for a virulent taxation.
“In the scenario proposed by the association, the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes would increase to 16 euros in 2027, or 3 euros more than the objective planned by the Government,” demands the association.
An increase that will be combined with other measures
According to Olivier Smadja, the fight against smoking cannot only involve an increase in the price of tobacco, whether gradual or sudden. According to him, it is also necessary to limit authorized smoking places in public spaces.
“It is one of the effective weapons for prevalence, when we prohibit certain spaces, what we intend is not to limit exposure, but to denormalize tobacco, so that the normal behavior is not smoking. “If there are children and adolescents, it is important that they do not face that behavior,” she says.
In addition, the specialist also requires tobacconists to apply the regulatory standards, in particular “the prohibition of selling to minors, a measure insufficiently applied,” he concludes.
The fight against tobacco is an important issue in many countries. In New Zealand, while the previous government passed a law banning the sale of cigarettes to people born after 2008, the new Prime Minister backtracked, much to the dismay of associations.
Source: BFM TV
