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“People
have the right to smoke. You don’t have the right to stop them.”
We’re not stopping them, we’re trying to make sure they can
get the information they have a right to, so they can make a genuine
informed choice – information the tobacco industry has done its best
to hide from them. We’re also asking for laws to protect people’s
right to be protected from having tobacco smoke poisons inflicted on
them by others.
“Everyone
already knows how bad smoking is for them.”
According to studies, most people don’t know the half of it. Most are
aware smoking causes cancer, some know (but many have forgotten) that it
causes heart disease, but few know that (just for example) smoking can
make you blind, or deaf, or cause back pain, or increase the risk of
meningococcal disease. And few know smoking can cause a very wide range
of cancers – not just in the lungs and throat. The tobacco industry
has a long record of hiding the full extent of health harm caused by its
product. Quit ad messages need constant renewal to stop people
forgetting the range of harms.
“If people want
to do something risky, it’s their own free choice.”
Fair enough - as long as they fully understand the dangers, which
(according to surveys) most don’t; and as long as it’s a free
choice, which is doubtful considering the combined effect of nicotine
addiction, and tobacco promotion during childhood (see the myth below).
Tobacco is extremely addictive – most research says, more so than
heroin. So smokers’ “choice” is quickly compromised by this. And
of course no-one has a right to expose anyone else to a risk without
their specific consent, so a “choice” to smoke doesn’t extend to a
right to expose anyone else to smoke contamination.
“It’s a
lifestyle choice, a decision for adults.”
So the tobacco companies tell us. But in fact the large majority of
smokers start to smoke while they’re still children (under 18) –
half before 16, and many as young as 12 or 13. So most are already well
addicted before they become adults – by which time it’s very hard to
stop. The tobacco companies’ own documents have shown that they know
most of their “new smokers” are children, yet they continue to pitch
to them in all kinds of subtle ways. Arguments about how we shouldn’t
be a “nanny state” also miss the point that the tobacco industry
mostly targets and recruits children.
“Tobacco
is a legal product and smoking is a legal activity.”
So are driving a car, urinating and operating dangerous machinery –
but none of these is allowed in a crowded bar, dining area, or the
public area of a children’s playground or sporting or entertainment
venue. There are many legal activities we quite properly restrict for
health and safety reasons.
“Smokers
are being victimised and discriminated against.”
This
is like saying car drivers are discriminated against for not
being allowed to drive along the footpath. There’s no law, and none
proposed, saying you can’t be a smoker – only that if you want to
smoke, you must move away from crowded situations where your smoking can
harm others. Most smokers readily accept this. The large majority of
them (according to surveys) want to quit, and welcome extra incentives
to help them do that.
“Anti-smoking
laws and taxes only increase hardship for poor people.”
There’s good evidence this does not happen. Impact of smoking is most
severe on poorest families, so measures to reduce smoking rates help
them most. Price increases by taxation can provide better funding for
programs to help the most disadvantaged to quit.
“The problem is
pretty much fixed now - we should move on.”
Tobacco still kills over 15,000 people a year in Australia - and our
smoking rates are falling only very slowly. They’re still higher than
those of
Sweden,
Portugal,
Canada
and the US. Some of these have taken stronger action than Australia. On present estimates we won’t get down to a 10% smoking rate by
2020. Smoking rates remain much higher in some groups – e.g.
indigenous people and people with mental illness. As for children, more
than a fifth of Australian high school kids smoke regularly. That means
if we don’t keep up the pressure, smoking rates will stagnate and even
start to inch back up again.
“Governments are
already spending lots of money to reduce smoking.”
No they’re not – total Australian Federal/State/Territory investment
in the fight against tobacco is around $20m a year – nowhere near as
much as governments spend to cut deaths from road accidents, AIDS,
murder, suicide, illicit drugs, alcohol and diabetes – although
tobacco kills more people than all of these combined. Government
investment in tobacco promotion has been shown to save $2 for every $1
spent, so more realistic funding would be highly cost-effective.
“Other things
(e.g. car fumes, obesity) are worse problems than tobacco.”
There are
many attempts to downplay tobacco because other problems are
“worse”. Obesity in particular is a major and increasing problem and
we don’t trivialise it. But research worldwide and in
Australia
shows tobacco is a bigger factor in preventable death and disease – in
Australia, easily the biggest single factor. Combined harm from tobacco and
obesity makes it even worse. Research suggests most people will suffer
far worse harm from tobacco in their lifetimes than they will from car
fumes. All evidence points to tobacco causing many more deaths worldwide
than obesity or air pollution do.
“We’ll never
stop tobacco because it contributes too much to the economy.”
In fact it bleeds the economy - big-time. Tobacco’s net
contribution to the national economy is estimated at under $2 billion a
year – but costs the nation more than $31 billion in hospital, health,
business and social costs.
“If
we get any tougher on smoking, tobacco companies will just go and do
more harm in poorer countries.”
There’s no evidence that high-income countries taking stronger action
leads to more tobacco company activity elsewhere. In fact, lower income
countries tend to be encouraged by strong action by wealthier countries
against tobacco.
“If
it’s so bad, why not campaign to just get it banned?”
Making possession and use an offence would just criminalise nicotine
addicts who have been conned by the tobacco companies. With around 18%
in Australia
still smoking, “Prohibition” of tobacco would create a huge black
market and cause an enormous drain on enforcement resources. There’s
very solid evidence that measures like increased taxation, mass media
quit campaigns and smokefree laws work well to reduce smoking rates –
we should do more of those; and push to get people fully informed,
children protected from promotion, and everyone protected from
secondhand smoke. Smoking rates are only falling slowly because we
haven’t done enough of these things.
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