Heated tobacco tax cut 'fails sniff test'

Government cuts to taxes on heated tobacco products fail to accurately reflect the harm they cause, says University of Auckland Centre for Cancer Research director Associate Professor George Laking.

"You can’t be accurate if you are shooting with your eyes closed. The government just adopted a 50 percent reduction in excise tax for heated tobacco products, without making the case as to why that would be proportionate to their harm,” Laking says.

On 21 and 22 November, Laking will appear with Professor of Health Psychology Lion Shahab from the University College of London and University of Auckland Professor of Public Health Chris Bullen in a panel discussion on heated tobacco products (HTPs) at the Linking the Vines Te Aka Mātauranga Matepukupuku Symposium at the University of Auckland.

Associate Professor Laking says heated tobacco products appear to be less harmful than tailor-made cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco, because they don't generate smoke by combustion. However, more research is needed on the harm caused to people’s health through inhaling heated tobacco aerosols, Laking says.

“Early research suggests that although the total toxic burden of HTP aerosols is lower than tobacco smoke, some harmful chemicals are present at a higher level. Also, much of this research has been commissioned by the industry itself," he says.

In Japan, heated tobacco products have been rapidly picked up by many people who previously smoked cigarettes. However, a core problem of nicotine addiction remains with heated tobacco, vaping and cigarette smoking, he says.

Laking was among experts who proposed reducing tobacco nicotine content to non-addictive levels, an idea adopted by the previous government. He is disappointed that the coalition government overturned the previous government’s 'smokefree generation' policy.

A gradual withdrawal from sale of addictive cigarettes would be a key action to reduce the numbers of people who suffer from illnesses caused by smoking, such as almost all types of cancer, heart disease and emphysema, says Laking.

“No one would be allowed to introduce combustible tobacco on the market these days – it's addictive and it kills half the people who use it. How they are even allowed to keep selling that stuff amazes me,” he says.

The process the government used in deciding to cut the excise tax on heated tobacco products in half is dubious, Laking says.

“It doesn't pass the sniff test. Why should oncologists, like me, and public health experts bother to front up with advice, if that’s the way the government is going to make its policies?” he says.