BMJ 2000;321:947-950 ( 14 October )

Education and debate

How can cigarette smuggling be reduced?

Luk Joossens, consultant ^a, Martin Raw, honorary senior lecturer ^b. 

^a International Union Against Cancer, EU Liaison Office, rue de Pascale 33, 1040 Brussels, Belgium, ^b Department of Public Health Science, Guy's King's and St Thomas's School of Medicine, University of London, London

Correspondence to: L Joossens joossens@globalink.org

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The tobacco industry has argued that tobacco smuggling is caused by market forcesby the price differences between countries, which create an incentive to smuggle cigarettes from "cheaper" countries to "more expensive" ones. The industry has urged governments to solve the problem by reducing taxes, which will also, it says, restore revenue. The facts contradict all these assertions. Smuggling is more prevalent in "cheaper" countries, and where taxes have been reduced, such as in Canada, consumption has risen and revenue fallen. There are, however, countries that have solved the problem by better control, Spain being the most impressive example to date, and the new World Health Organization framework convention may at last promote control of tobacco smuggling at the level at which it must be tackledglobally.

Tobacco smuggling has become a critical public health issue because it brings tobacco on to markets cheaply, making cigarettes more affordable and thus . . . [Full text of this article]

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