It’s no secret that cigarette smoking is far less prevalent in Australia nowadays than it was in perhaps the 1950s, ’60s or ’70s, but around 15 per cent of Australians (2.3 million) still light up on a daily basis, according to 2019 data from the Department of Health.
In Australia, the habit accounts for one in every seven deaths while globally tobacco smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death globally.
The Federal Government already has a goal of reducing smoking prevalence to 10 per cent by 2025. But now, a new plan has been unveiled that aims to eliminate tobacco smoking in Australia once and for all.
The Centre for Research Excellence (CREATE), based at the University of Queensland, is calling for a “tobacco endgame”, which would see smoking prevalence reduce to 0, potentially within just five years.
“Australia is already a world leader in public health initiatives. Creating a strategy to realise the tobacco endgame would move that leadership to a new level and bring global health benefits,” Associate Professor Coral Gartner, CREATE director, said.
One of the key ways in which CREATE suggests this could be achieved is to reduce the number of tobacco retailers across the country, or limit the sale of tobacco to specific retailers, such as pharmacies. While other suggestions include ending sales to people born after a specified year, phasing out commercial cigarette sales or even altering the content of cigarettes to make them less addictive, less palatable or to remove the most harmful products from the market entirely based on their toxicant profile.
Writing in the journal InSight, Gartner said the newly-formed centre would consider all of the options and work out what an appropriate endgame target and time frame should be.
“An effective tobacco endgame strategy should accelerate the decline in smoking prevalence while assisting governments, retailers and people who smoke to transition to a smoke-free society,” Gartner added.
“CREATE’s ambitious goal is to determine the optimal mix of strategies that will help Australia become a smoke-free nation and produce a roadmap outlining how to implement these strategies while mitigating potential unintended impacts and increasing equity.”