|
Tax on the RYO cigarette as smoked is still 30% less;
Many poor smokers switch
to RYOs, fatally delaying quitting
§
RYO cigarettes currently attract the same
tax per gram of tobacco content, as factory-made cigarettes. However
NZ research clearly shows that harm is not proportional to risk, but
depends on how the cigarette is smoked. RYO cigarettes contain 30%
less tobacco, but are smoked intensively, to product 25% more smoke
per cigarette.
§
RYO cigarettes and factory-made cigarettes
was found to have the same risk per cigarette,1 – a
0.5 g RYO cigarette raises carbon monoxide in the blood no
differently than a factory-made cigarette.1
§
Health risk is not based on tobacco
content.
§
Tobacco tax should be based on the
cigarette as it is smoked, namely, a 0.5 g tobacco RYO cigarette, or
a 0.7 g tobacco factory-made cigarette.
______________________________________
§
Before the tobacco tax increase in late April 2010, RYO
cigarettes rolled thin (60 RYOs from a 30g pouch) cost 36% less than
a factory-made cigarette. From May 2010 onwards, they were still 30%
cheaper.
§
Much as before, when smokers of factory-made cigarettes want
to quit, many switch to smoking cheaper RYOs, thereby fatally
postponing quitting.
§
Most of the 5000 smokers who die each year, die from quitting
too late – and many of these from switching to cheaper RYOs.
§
Since 2000 End Smoking NZ has maintained that RYOs, even if
rolled thin, should cost the same as factory-made cigarettes, as the
risk from smoking RYO or factory-made cigarettes is the same.
|
|
Roll- your- own (RYO) cigarettes and tobacco
·
Smokers inhale equally toxic smoke from RYOs and factory-made
cigarettes.1
(See
below). They are mostly smoked without filter, and the filters used
are ineffective against toxic gases.
·
Account for a third of smokers’ deaths, and one in six
of all Maori deaths.2
Smoking
causes one third of all Maori deaths2 and as RYO and
manufactured cigarettes are equally popular among Maori,3 at least half of all Maori
smoking deaths, that is, one sixth of all Maori deaths, are thus probably due to smoking RYO
cigarettes.
Table 1 shows that 66% of Maori smokers smoke RYOs all
or some of the time, as opposed to 52.6% of all smokers; and nearly
half (47%) of Maori smokers smoke only hand rolled cigarettes, as opposed to 36.6% of all
smokers.3
Table
1. Prevalence of smoking by type of cigarette smoked, in Maori and
total population; 2002, 2005
|
As
percentage of the population
|
2002
|
2002
|
2002
|
2002
|
2005
|
2005
|
|
By Age group
|
15 and
over
|
15 and
over
|
15 and
over
|
15 and
over
|
15 and
over
|
15-19
years
|
|
By ethnicity and sex
|
Maori
males
|
Maori
females
|
All Maori
|
All, both
sexes
|
All, both
sexes
|
All, both
sexes
|
|
Smokers of any tobacco product
|
A
|
44.1
|
54.6
|
50.1
|
25.0
|
23.8
|
21.1
|
|
Smokers of any cigarette
|
B
|
42.6
|
54.6
|
49.5
|
24.5
|
23.4
|
20.9
|
|
Manufactured cigarette smoker, all
|
C
|
19.7
|
30.6
|
25.9
|
15.4
|
13.6
|
9.1
|
|
Hand rolled cigarette smoker all
|
D
|
31.0
|
34.6
|
33.1
|
13.1
|
13.1
|
15.4
|
|
Smokes both hand-rolled and manufactured cigarettes
|
E=(d+c -b)
|
8.1
|
10.6
|
9.5
|
4.0
|
3.3
|
3.6
|
|
As a
percentage of the smoking population
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Manufactured cigarette exclusively
|
H=(c -e)/a
|
26.2
|
36.6
|
32.6
|
45.6
|
43.3
|
26.1
|
|
Some use of hand rolled
|
I= k-j
|
18.7
|
19.3
|
19.2
|
16.0
|
15.5
|
17.1
|
|
Hand rolled cigarettes exclusively
|
J=(d-e)/a
|
51.9
|
44.1
|
47.0
|
36.6
|
41.2
|
55.9
|
|
All hand rolled
cigarette smokers
|
K=d/a
|
70.3
|
63.4.
|
66.1
|
52.4
|
55.0
|
73.0
|
Source: ACNielsen national smoking survey calendar year
2002; Tobacco Trends, Ministry of Health 2006.
_Table 2. RYO prevalence, average daily consumption, average
cost of daily smoking, 2000-2006
|
Year
|
% of all adults smoking RYOs
|
RYO as % of total smoking prevalence
|
RYO consumption
/day /smoker
|
Average tobacco per RYO cigarette
|
RYO
Cigarettes /RYO smoker per day
|
Cost of RYO tobacco
|
Cost of daily smoking
RYO
|
Factory
made daily smoking
|
RYO/
FM
Cost ratio
|
|
units
|
%
|
% / %
|
g tobacco
|
g
|
number
|
$ /g
|
$/day
|
$/day
|
Ratio
|
|
2000
|
14.9
|
57
|
5.5
|
0.54
|
9.9
|
0.45
|
2.48
|
7.62
|
0.33
|
|
2002
|
13.3
|
54
|
5.6
|
0.54
|
9.9
|
0.51
|
2.73
|
8.12
|
0.34
|
|
2004
|
13.3
|
57
|
5.4
|
?
|
?
|
0.56
|
3.00
|
7.88
|
0.38
|
|
2005
|
13.1
|
53
|
5.5
|
?
|
?
|
0.59
|
3.24
|
7.56
|
0.43
|
|
2006
|
11.2
|
48
|
6.6
|
0.49
|
|
0.61
|
4.03
|
9.42
|
0.43
|
|
AC Nielsen smoking survey reports to the Ministry of Health,
1983-2005. Mixed use adjusted for.
Tobacco Use Survey 2006. Ministry of Health.
Statistics New Zealand tobacco products consumption per quarter,
1983-2006.
________________________________________________________________________________
1 Laugesen M, Epton M, Frampton C,
Glover M, Lea R. Hand-rolled cigarette smoking patterns, compared
with factory-made cigarette smoking in New Zealand men. BMC Public
Health 2009, 9:194. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/194
2 Laugesen M, Clements M. Cigarette Smoking
Mortality among Māori 1954-2028. 1998. Wellington :
Te Puni Kōkiri.
3 ACNielsen national smoking survey
data, calendar year 2002. Wellington : Ministry of Health.
|
|
Dr Murray Laugesen QSO chair; Prof Ross McCormick, Sir John Scott KBE, Trish
Fraser MPH, Dr Marewa Glover, Trustees
Smoking fewer Factory made and rolling RYOs thinner
Fig 1.
Cigarette & RYO consumption 1983-2006– reducing to 20 cigarettes
per day or 5 g RYO tobacco per day
-
AC Nielsen surveys,
Statistics NZ tobacco products consumption.
Smokers have responded to price increases by smoking
fewer factory made cigarettes and rolling thinner RYO cigarettes.
As a result, tobacco consumption per RYO smoker has
declined from 12 g daily in the 1980s to 5 g daily since 1996, making
RYO smoking cheaper, despite the real cost per gram rising.
And by rolling RYOs thinner they smoke about as many
cigarettes per day as factory made smokers..
FM smokers have also reduced consumption, now
averaging under 20 cigarettes per day.
Table 1. RYO prevalence, average daily consumption, average cost
of daily smoking, 2000-2006
|
Year
|
% of all adults smoking RYOs
|
RYO as % of total smoking prevalence
|
RYO consumption
/day /smoker
|
Average tobacco per RYO cigarette
|
RYO
Cigarettes /RYO smoker per day
|
Cost of RYO tobacco
|
Cost of daily smoking
RYO
|
Factory
made daily smoking
|
RYO/
FM
Cost ratio
|
|
units
|
%
|
% / %
|
g tobacco
|
g
|
number
|
$ /g
|
$/day
|
$/day
|
Ratio
|
|
2000
|
14.9
|
57
|
5.5
|
0.54
|
9.9
|
0.45
|
2.48
|
7.62
|
0.33
|
|
2002
|
13.3
|
54
|
5.6
|
0.54
|
9.9
|
0.51
|
2.73
|
8.12
|
0.34
|
|
2004
|
13.3
|
57
|
5.4
|
?
|
?
|
0.56
|
3.00
|
7.88
|
0.38
|
|
2005
|
13.1
|
53
|
5.5
|
?
|
?
|
0.59
|
3.24
|
7.56
|
0.43
|
|
2006
|
11.2
|
48
|
6.6
|
0.49
|
|
0.61
|
4.03
|
9.42
|
0.43
|
|
AC Nielsen smoking survey reports to the Ministry of Health,
1983-2005. Mixed use adjusted for.
Tobacco Use Survey 2006. Ministry of Health.
Statistics New Zealand tobacco products consumption per quarter,
1983-2006.
Comment: In 2006,
RYO smoking at $4 a day was under half the price of smoking
manufactured cigarettes.
|
