Campaigners say aim of price hike is to stamp out smoking and fund Italy’s health service.
Italian health and cancer groups on Thursday unveiled a campaign for a bill to raise the price of a packet of cigarettes by €5 in a bid to discourage smoking and to raise additional funds for the national health service.
The campaign seeks to gather 50,000 certified signatures – the number required for parliament to debate the proposal – by next spring.
Their aim is to call on parliament to introduce a flat €5 excise tax on all smoking and nicotine inhalation products, including e-cigarettes and heated tobacco.
Landmark proposal
The proposal, the first of its kind in Italy, was launched in the senate by the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM), together with the AIRC Foundation for Cancer Research, the Umberto Veronesi Foundation, and the AIOM Foundation.
Outlining the benefits of the proposed measure, senate vice president Mariolina Castellone said: “With an increase of €5 per packet, in addition to reducing the number of smokers, an estimated €12 billion would be raised for prevention”.
Smoking patterns in Italy and health risks
The promoters of the campaign said that almost a quarter of adults in Italy smoke regularly, and the prevalence among young people is also “worrying”, with one in five teenagers aged between 15 and 19 smoking cigarettes daily, a habit they tend to maintain for the rest of their lives.
“Despite the more restrictive regulations passed in recent decades, too many citizens still smoke” – the campaign promoters stated – “Smoking is one of the most significant cancer risk factors; therefore, all tools that encourage giving up the habit must be encouraged.”
“A smoker loses an average of 10 years of life compared to a non-smoker, and for young people, the danger also comes from e-cigarettes”, Giulia Veronesi of the Veronesi Foundation said, adding that initial scientific data shows that e-cigarettes increase the risk of cancer and other diseases, while their addictive nicotine steers young people towards “traditional smoking.”
Social costs
In Italy alone, smoking-related diseases cost €24 billion, directly and indirectly, and result in 93,000 deaths each year, mainly from cancer as well as chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
Pointing to France and Ireland, which have introduced similar price increases and seen a dramatic drop in smoking, the campaigners claim that a €5 increase on each cigarette packet could reduce tobacco consumption in Italy by 37 per cent.
Excise taxes
“In our country, excise taxes are among the lowest in Europe” – Maria Sofia Cattaruzza, professor of public health at Rome’s Sapienza University, said – “€3.19 per pack compared to €7.45 in France and €9.92 in Ireland.”
“Making smoking an expensive and unsustainable practice, especially for young people, is the only way to reverse the trend,” the campaign promoters insist, stressing that the extra funds raised could be reinvested in public health.
