Tobacco Fact File
- In the UK, support for restrictions on smoking in public places is very high.
- The Tobacco Manufacturers' Association estimates that 62% of UK production of cigarettes exceeds the ceilings on either tar, carbon monoxide or nicotine.
- Oral tobacco cannot be bought in the UK.
- Tight controls on smuggling improve governments’ revenue yields from tobacco tax increases.
- Much of the regulation applying to tobacco in the UK has been in the form of voluntary agreements with the tobacco industry.
- Cigarettes, although a nicotine delivery device, are exempt from the UK drug safety standards.
- In 1996 the European Union paid £684.5 million in tobacco subsidies. More than sixty times the amount (£10.3 million) spent for programs designed to reduce smoking.
- The recent introduction of images and very specific health warnings in countries such as Australia, Canada and Poland have seen a measured improvement on the publics’ awareness of dangers of smoking and provided motivation to discontinue using tobacco.
- Strong warning labels are effective in helping smokers to quit.
- Cigarette consumption varies inversely with the real price of cigarettes.
- The EU Labelling Directive 2001/37/EC will provide a framework for member states to base labelling laws upon.
- Advertising bans decrease consumption of tobacco.
- In 2000 the UK government earned £9,616 million in revenue from tobacco duty and VAT.
- In high-income countries, healthcare costs related to smoking account for between 6 and 15 per cent of all annual costs.
- The annual cost of smoking to the NHS in England alone is estimated to be £1,500 million.
- The estimated cost of smoking related absence in Scotland is £40 million per annum.
- In 2000, UK consumers spent £15.1billion on tobacco related products.
- If a medium level smoker - 20 per day - were to quit they would save on average £1,144 a year.
- Tobacco control need not damage the income or livelihoods of farmers.
- A fall in tobacco consumption is unlikely to harm the economy.
- Cessation therapies, including NRT, are extremely cost effective.
- Smoking cessation interventions are more cost effective than many medical interventions.
- Tobacco use is the USA results in an annual cost of more than $75 billion in direct medical costs.
- Each pack of cigarettes sold in the USA costs the nation an estimated $7.18 in medical care costs and lost productivity.
- Smokers are hospitalised more often than nonsmokers, and take more days off because of illness.
- The European Union loses approximately €6 billion in revenue per year because of cigarette smuggling.
- Consumption of just 1,000 tons of tobacco costs the worlds' annual economy US$200billion.
- Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco and British American Tobacco are the world's three largest multinational cigarette companies. In 1998 their combined tobacco revenues were more than $88billion.
- In addition to tobacco, cigarettes can contain up to 600 additives ranging from ammonia and arsenic to lead and formaldehyde.
- Modern cigarette manufacturing machines use 4 miles of paper per hour.
- Tobacco growers are susceptible to green tobacco sickness
- Tobacco production is thought to be responsible for one in eight of all trees felled throughout the world.
- Dependence on tobacco advertising revenue persuades editors and publishers to ignore the tobacco issue or to minimise its importance.
- In developing countries that grow tobacco, production accounts for 5% of deforestation.
- In the US, more than 3 million nonfarmers - or 2.6% of the workforce - work in the tobacco business.
- The tobacco industry has yet to admit that passive smoking causes illness.
- In 1995, the global tobacco industry produced an estimated 2,262 million kilograms of manufacturing waste and 209 million kilograms of chemical waste.
- Cigarette butts accounted for almost one-fifth of all items collected in the International Coastal Cleanup Project.
- In 1995, 5.535 trillion commercially manufactured cigarettes were consumed worldwide.
- A third of annual global exports go to the contraband market.
- The tobacco industry has known for decades that smokers must modify their behaviour when smoking ‘light cigarettes’.
- The use of clear informative health warnings has been consistently opposed by the tobacco industry.
- Smuggled cigarettes are sold at a reduced price and stimulate demand for international brands.
- Tobacco advertising is used to recruit new smokers.
- The tobacco industry earns approximately €50,000 from each new smoker.
- The EU produces 4.5% of the worlds' total tobacco leaf production.
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