Eliminate illicit trade in tobacco, control unrecorded alcohol: WHO

The World Health Organization today called on Member countries in South-East Asia Region to take effective steps to track, trace and eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products, and control unrecorded alcohol, while cautioning that all forms of tobacco and alcohol, legal or illegal, are harmful to health. 

“Effective control of illicit tobacco trade and unrecorded alcohol is a challenging and daunting task, but now is the time to prudently make our decisions and choose the best way forward. As a first step, all our remaining Member States should become Parties to the WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products,” Regional Director Ms Saima Wazed urged in her opening remarks at a regional workshop here to address the challenges of illicit tobacco trade and unrecorded alcohol.

So far, from WHO South-East Asia Region, India and Sri Lanka are parties to the WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.

The Regional Director called on Member countries to devote optimal resources to develop, implement and sustain effective ‘track and trace’ mechanisms for tobacco products. Progress in combating illicit trade has been slow in the Region with appropriate policies and tools either not in place, or not optimally implemented.

Experience from many countries shows illicit trade can be successfully addressed, even when tobacco taxes and prices are raised. This results in increased tax revenues while simultaneously reducing tobacco use, Ms Wazed said.

“It is essential to compile existing, and generate new, regional evidence to enable policymakers make better-informed and more effective policy decisions to monitor and combat illicit tobacco trade and unrecorded alcohol,” she said.

An estimated 25% of global alcohol consumption is unrecorded. This is usually of a lower price and appeals to consumers from low socioeconomic status and people with underlying alcohol use disorders. It is often irregularly labelled, thus often containing unknown ethanol percentage and potentially toxic compounds. It is a complex interplay of these factors which make unrecorded alcohol potentially more harmful than regulated alcohol, the Regional Director said.

Unrecorded alcohol consumption is associated with disproportionate harm that goes beyond toxicity. Online sale of unrecorded alcohol, which circumvents alcohol availability regulations, is an emerging challenge, she said.

Tobacco use is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, over 20 different types of cancer, and many other debilitating health conditions. Excessive alcohol consumption has several negative health consequences. It is a risk factor for mental disorders, communicable and noncommunicable diseases, premature mortality, injury, and domestic violence. In addition to valuable lives lost, both tobacco and alcohol have substantial economic and societal costs.

The Regional workshop is exploring integrating quit lines for tobacco, alcohol and substance use, besides global best practices to monitor and combat illicit tobacco trade and unrecorded alcohol consumption.

As of 2022, the WHO South-East Asia Region has the highest average tobacco use prevalence among adults. The Region accounts for 280 million smokeless tobacco users, nearly 77% of the global total, and 11 million adolescent tobacco users, 30% of the global total. This is despite the progress recorded in the fifth edition of the WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000–2030, which shows that between 2000 to 2022, in WHO South-East Asia Region, tobacco use prevalence among adult men decreased from 68.9% to 43.7% and among adult women from 33.5% to 9.4%. 

“We need to further prioritize effective implementation of all WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) measures at the country-level. This must be done to address both supply-side and demand-side issues, in relation to all forms of tobacco use, to ensure reduction in prevalence of tobacco consumption across our Region,” the Regional Director said.

The workshop is being attended by representatives of the customs, excise, tax and health departments from Member States of WHO South-East Asia Region, the World Bank, World Customs Organization, global and regional experts in illicit tobacco trade, unrecorded alcohol and tobacco quit lines. Technical officers from all three levels of WHO, country, regional office and headquarters are participating.