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“
The
Federal Government has been urged on World Cancer Day to fully fund a
new five-year National Tobacco Strategy to stem smoking-caused
diseases and avoid a blowout in deaths and health care costs. Action
on Smoking and Health (ASH) Australia says the government’s National
Tobacco Strategy now up for renewal needs realistic funding to ensure
it saves lives and money. Federal government spending on
education campaigns that encourage people to quit smoking has declined
to just $2m a year - despite their own research
showing that tobacco control is the most cost-effective investment in
health spending. Says
ASH Chief Executive Anne Jones: “Tobacco
products are killing around 19,000 Australians a year – by far our
biggest preventable cause of death; and it’s costing our national
economy more than $21b a year, dwarfing its $5b excise revenue. “And
because of our ageing population,” she points out, “the research
says these costs will skyrocket unless a concerted effort is made now
to reduce smoking rates. PBS drug subsidy costs alone will suffer a
billion-dollar blowout unless preventive measures are taken. “Although
incremental progress has been made in reducing smoking over the past
20 years, federal government funding levels for tobacco control are
low – far lower, in fact, than for any other significant
life-threatening problem you can name; and far less per capita than
what the US, Canada, New Zealand or other comparable countries are
putting in. “This
is a clear-cut case of how investing in halving our national smoking
prevalence of around 21% would deliver enormous benefits including
saving lives, reducing disabilities and slashing billions in avoidable
drug costs. “We
urge the Howard Government to show leadership, vision and economic
responsibility by fully funding the National Tobacco Strategy for
2004-2009.” Comment:
Anne Jones, CEO, ASH Australia
m. 0417-227-879 Media inquiries:
Stafford Sanders ph.
(02) 9334-1823 m.
0412-070-194 |
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Page last updated 4/2/05 |
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