It turns out that if you start to raise prices on cigarettes, smokers will be slightly less.
American scientists conducted a longitudinal study of the impact of public and economic policies for tobacco use residents of the United States. They found that the increase in the average price of cigarettes by one dollar led to a decrease in the Smoking population by 20 percent, while the ban on Smoking in public places did not affect tobacco consumption. The article was published in the journal Epidemiology.
Tobacco consumption is known to bear huge health. It leads to cardiovascular disease and cancer: Smoking is associated with 700 thousands of deaths in Europe annually, it is also believed that smokers live on average 14 years less. As a method of tobacco control, governments introduce changes in the pricing policy, increasing the tax on cigarettes, increase cost, and introduce bans on Smoking in public places (e.g. bars and restaurants). The study of such attempts to influence smokers can identify their effectiveness in the fight against Smoking.
The creators of the work within ten years (2002 to 2012) collected data on tobacco use among 632 inhabitants of six major US cities (Los Angeles, new York, Saint Paul, Baltimore, Chicago and the County of Forsyth in Georgia). In addition, the researchers collected data on cigarette prices and affordability of their purchase (number of points of sale of tobacco products within a radius of three miles from the place of residence of each participant in the experiment), as well as government policy of restricting tobacco consumption. A ten-year experiment included four survey participants reported they quit Smoking (in comparison with the previous survey), returned to Smoking and quitting whether they are at the moment. Also, the participants were divided into two groups according to the number of tobacco Smoking: heavy smokers were those who smoked more than ten cigarettes a day. At the beginning of the experiment, all participants were healthy.
For ten years the average price of a pack of cigarettes rose by two dollars. The number of participants who were under the influence of ban on Smoking in public places (an indicator of the presence of non-smokers the public places within a radius of three kilometres) increased from 68 to 338. The number of available places, retail trade in tobacco products has not changed.
The results showed that increasing the price of cigarettes by one dollar led to an increase in the number of throwing people 20 percent and to reduce the number of smokers by 35 percent. The number of daily cigarettes smoked among participants decreased by 19 percent after raising prices by one dollar. The Smoking ban in nearby bars and restaurants, according to the researchers, did not affect the habits of smokers. Also, other indicators (gender, age, race, level of education and income) did not affect the desire of participants to quit Smoking.
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Scientists check the effects and other methods of struggle against Smoking. Recently, scientists have discovered that the use of “terrifying” pictures of effects of tobacco consumption on cigarette packs more effective labels. In another article you can read about why electronic cigarettes do not help quit Smoking.
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