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ASH Daily News

23 October 2001

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EU candidate states asked to harmonise tobacco tax
Genetic roots of nicotine addiction


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EU candidate states asked to harmonise tobacco tax

Countries that are candidates to joint the European Union are strongly resisting European Commission pressure for them to bring their excise duties on tobacco and other products into line with the rest of the EU before they join.

The commission wants changes as quickly as possible to prevent distortions in the single European market. It believes that such distortions in the taxing regimes may encourage smuggling from candidate countries where cigarettes in particular are far cheaper than in member states.

In several of the candidate states, excise tax on cigarettes is about 42 percent compared with an EU rate of 57 percent. Moving to increase tax rates closer to EU levels would mean increases of up to 107 percent for Slovaks and 29 percent for the Poles.

Libor Secka, Czech ambassador to the EU, said attempts to increase excise taxes could backfire. “We are not against harmonisation. But if there is anything that will turn public opinion against joining the EU it is a sharp hike in the price of cigarettes. Prices should be phased in.” he said.

The Commission recognises the inflationary and politically negative impact of raising cigarette prices. It also admits that it would not stop smuggling. “Smugglers from the Ukraine and other countries would get cigarettes into the candidate countries. And those cigarettes would still make their way into the EU.”

As a result, the commission, when it makes its recommendations to member states this month, is expected to allow for transitional periods. This would allow candidate countries to phase in higher cigarette prices over a few years.

Source: Financial Times, 23 October 2001



Genetic roots of nicotine addicition

A team from the Institute of Psychiatry in London is unlocking the reasons why nicotine is rated as one of the most addictive chemicals.

Professor Ian Stolerman, leading the team, since the 1970s, been carrying out animal experiments to test the effects of nicotine on the brain.

His latest research suggests that genetically altered mice may be able to resist one of the effects of tobacco. He has identified “receptors” on brain cells which appear to be key to the “head-rush” felt by smokers. The role of these receptors, called alpha-4 beta-2, were identified using rats which had been trained to respond when they felt the effects of a nicotine injection.

The team found that when they used drugs which “blocked” these particular receptors, the response to nicotine was muted. There was still some response, suggesting the presence of some other types of receptors, but showed that beta-2 receptors are of primary importance for nicotine stimulation.

Professor Stolerman said: “This is the best evidence to date for the involvement of these receptors in response to this substance [nicotine].”

Professor Stolerman’s research coincided with a warning by another leading expert on the impending world cancer catastrophe caused by smoking.

Professor Julian Peto, from the Institute of Cancer Research in Surrey issued his warning whilst addressing a European Conference in Lisbon.

Professor Peto told the meeting that while lung cancer deaths had fallen sharply in the UK over the past few decades, other countries had yet to approach the peak in smoking-related deaths.

During the entire 20th century, there were approximately 100m smoking related deaths worldwide. However, Professor Peto said that this would grow quickly, with 150m deaths just in the next quarter century, and 500m between 2050 and 2100 unless smoking rates were drastically cut.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/English/health/newsid_1613000/1613447.stm target=urlglk>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/English/health/newsid_1613000/1613447.stm
Source: BBC Online, 22 October 2001



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