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L Joossens

Publications and source records attributed to L Joossens.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

The Tobacco Control Scale: a new scale to measure country activity.

OBJECTIVES: To quantify the implementation of tobacco control policies at country level using a new Tobacco Control Scale and to report initial results using the scale. METHOD: A questionnaire sent to correspondents in 30 European countries, using a scoring system designed with the help of a panel of international tobacco control experts. RESULTS: The 30 countries are ranked by their total score on the scale out of a maximum possible score of 100. Only four countries (Ireland, United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland) scored 70 or more, with an eight point gap (most differences in scores are small) to the fifth country, Malta, on 62. Only 13 countries scored above 50, 11 of them from the European Union (EU), and the second largest points gap occurs between Denmark on 45 and Portugal on 39, splitting the table into three groups: 70 and above, 45 to 62, 39 and below. Ireland had the highest overall score, 74 out of 100, and Luxembourg was bottom with 26 points. However even Ireland, much praised for their ban on smoking in public places, did not increase tobacco taxes in 2005, for the first time since 1995. CONCLUSIONS: Although the Tobacco Control Scale has limitations, this is the first time such a scale has been developed and applied to so many countries. We hope it will be useful in encouraging countries to strengthen currently weak areas of their tobacco control policy.

Europe↗
PubMed2003

Turning off the tap: the real solution to cigarette smuggling.

The tobacco industry has argued that tobacco smuggling is caused by market forces, i.e., by the price differences between countries, which create an incentive to smuggle cigarettes from 'cheaper' to 'more expensive' countries, and so urged governments to solve the problem by reducing taxes to remove this differential, which will also, they say, restore revenue. Although such market forces have some effect, smuggling is in fact more prevalent in 'cheaper' countries, and reducing tax is not the solution. Where taxes have been reduced tobacco consumption has risen and revenue has fallen, with disastrous consequences for public health. The key to understanding cigarette smuggling is understanding the role of the tobacco industry. At the heart of cigarette smuggling is large scale fraud: container loads of cigarettes are exported, legally and duty unpaid, to countries where they have no market, and where they disappear into the contraband market. They are often smuggled back into the country of origin, where they are sold at a third to half price. It is therefore profitable because duty has been illegally evaded. The key to controlling cigarette smuggling is not lowering taxes, it is controlling the tobacco manufacturing industry and its exporting practices.

Crime↗
PubMed2000

From public health to international law: possible protocols for inclusion in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Faced with a difficult business environment in the United States and the falling demand for cigarettes in industrialized countries, multinational tobacco companies have been competing fiercely to expand their sales in developing countries. Because of the worldwide threat posed by smoking to health and the emphasis being placed by international tobacco companies on marketing in developing countries, an international regulatory strategy, such as the WHO proposed Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, is needed. This review describes from a public health perspective the possible scope and key considerations of protocols that should be included in the convention. The key international areas that should be considered in tobacco control are: prices, smuggling; tax-free tobacco products; advertising and sponsorship; the Internet; testing methods; package design and labelling; agriculture; and information sharing.

Advertising↗
PubMed1998

Cigarette smuggling in Europe: who really benefits?

Cigarette smuggling, now on the increase, is so widespread and well organised that it poses a serious threat to public health. This threat comes from two principal directions. First, smuggling makes cigarettes available cheaply, thereby increasing consumption. A third of annual global exports go to the contraband market, representing an enormous impact on consumption, and thus causing an increase in the burden of disease, especially in poorer countries. It is also costing government treasuries thousands of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue. Second, the tobacco industry uses smuggling politically, lobbying governments to lower tax, arguing that smuggling is caused by price differences. This paper shows that the claimed correlation between high prices and high levels of smuggling does not exist in western Europe. In fact, countries such as Norway and Sweden, with expensive cigarettes, do not have a large smuggling problem, whereas countries in the south of Europe do. Cigarette smuggling is not caused principally by "market forces". It is mainly caused by fraud, by the illegal evasion of import duty. The cigarettes involved are not the cheap brands from southern European countries, for which there is no international market. It is the well-known international brands such as Marlboro and Winston. We propose much tighter regulation of cigarette trade, including an international transport convention, and a total ban on transit trade-sale by the manufacturers to dealers, who sell on to smugglers.

Europe↗
PubMed1996

Are tobacco subsidies a misuse of public funds?

The European Union spends about 1000m ecu (800m pounds, $1240m) a year subsidizing tobacco production but only about 1.55m ecu (1.2m pounds, $1.85m) on smoking prevention. The subsidies, part of the common agricultural policy, were originally intended to encourage farmers to grow commercially valued varieties of tobacco and thus reduce imports. But they also aimed to guarantee farmers' income, a goal in direct conflict with the first. The policy has failed to adapt production to demand or reduce imports, since most tobacco grown in the union has little commercial value. Reforms introduced in 1992 have had limited impact on expenditure, and data produced as a result of the reforms show that it would be much cheaper to give farmers direct income support than to subsidize them growing tobacco. Tobacco subsidies should be abolished and more should be spent on smoking prevention.

Crops, Agricultural↗
PubMed1995

Smuggling and cross border shopping of tobacco in Europe.

Governments have recently become concerned about cross border shopping and smuggling because it can decrease tax revenue. The tobacco industry predicted that, with the removal of border controls in the European Union, price differences between neighbouring countries would lead to a diversion of tobacco trade, legally and illegally, to countries with cheaper cigarettes. According to them this diversion would be through increased cross border shopping for personal consumption or through increased smuggling of cheap cigarettes from countries with low tax to countries with high tax, where cigarettes are more expensive. These arguments have been used to urge governments not to increase tax on tobacco products. The evidence suggests, however, that cross border shopping is not yet a problem in Europe and that smuggling is not of cheap cigarettes to expensive countries. Instead, more expensive "international" brands are smuggled into northern Europe and sold illegally on the streets of the cheaper countries of southern Europe.

Crime↗
PubMed1991

Tobacco and the European common agricultural policy.

The common agricultural policy of the European Community subsidizes tobacco production to the tune of 1,300 million ecu a year (US$ 1,500 million, UK pounds 900 million). This amounts to 2,500 ecu ($3,100, pounds 1,700) per minute, and is more in one year than the total amount spent on tobacco subsidies by the US in the last 50 years. The purpose of this policy was to maintain farmers' incomes and adapt community production to demand. Demand for the dark tobaccos which dominate EC production has fallen, while demand for light flue cured tobacco like Virginia has risen. A complex system of production subsidies and quotas was intended to discourage production of the dark tobaccos, for which there is virtually no market, and lead to more Virginia production. The policy has failed. Expenditure has spiralled out of control, production of unmarketable tobacco varieties has risen enormously, and the EC is the world's largest importer of raw tobacco. As a result tobacco is being bought by the community for intervention storage and surpluses of the dark high tar varieties are being 'exported' to eastern Europe and north Africa at giveaway prices. There has been no effective monitoring or control of this policy. This paper explains how this has happened and argues that, in view of the health risks attached to tobacco, these subsidies should be abolished.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1990

Smoking policy in the workplace and other public places.

In may 1989, the Council of Health Ministers of the European Community adopted a joint resolution which urges the 12 member states to adopt legislation restricting smoking in public places. European citizens support this action. A survey in March-April 1987 using a sample of 12,000 Europeans in the 12 member states concluded that 77% of European citizens want measures to ban smoking in public places. The conditions that are necessary to make a smoking policy successful in the workplace and other public places will be discussed. We want to stress that an information and awareness campaign before the enforcement of the smoking ban is the most important condition.

Europe↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Women and tobacco in the European Union].

Over the last decades, the prevalence of smoking in the European Union has followed different trends by sex. While the prevalence has declined for men, it has increased or is stable for women. In some countries where these changes took place earlier, the prevalence of smoking is now higher among women than among men. This document provides quantitative data for these trends in the European Union, with special reference to the situation in Spain. In 1995 there were 60 million men and 42 million women smokers in the European Union. Up to 48% of female smokers used light cigarettes, that is 20 million women. There are documents from the tobacco industry showing that the goal of the promotion of light cigarettes is to reassure their clients and to keep as smokers those concerned about their health who are considering the possibility of quitting. There is evidence confirming that this policy is successful, and that the misconceptions of smokers about light cigarettes deter them from quitting. There is evidence on the role of smoking in weight control. Women are more concerned than men about their weight, and for young women body image is very relevant. Young girls often have the perception that they are overweight. Although fear of being overweight is more common than actual overweight, the evidence suggests that being afraid of gaining weight plays a role in keeping women as smokers, and that young girls begin smoking taking into consideration weight issues. The advice on how to maintain weight should be included in any smoking cessation program for women. Any preventive action for teen age smokers should include weight control issues.

Adolescent↗