Raising taxes on tobacco can help reduce consumption: Speakers.

ISLAMABAD -- Speakers here on Wednesday while sharing views views on a dialogue said that raising taxes on tobacco was widely regarded as the most effective and cost-effective measure to reduce tobacco use.

The dialogue was organized by Society for the Protection of Rights of the Child (SPARC) on the subject of saving the young generation from tobacco hazards through Sustainable Measures

They said higher cigarette taxation would serve a dual objective of public health promotion and revenue generation.

They showed their concern about the high prevalence of smoking among youth and requested the government to increase the taxes by 30% as per the World Health Organization recommendation to reduce the consumption.

Dr. Ziauddin Islam, former technical head, tobacco control cell, ministry of Health said youth was the main victim of the tobacco industry. The industry considered adolescents as replacement smokers.

As children are price sensitive, increasing tobacco taxes to 30% would help prevent youth from starting to smoke, he said.

He added that tobacco taxation was a major component of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy. He commented that to completely understand the benefits, it was...