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83% of Switzerland’s smokers think non-smokers should pay their tobacco-related health bills

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A recent study shows 83% of smokers in Switzerland think non-smokers should continue to cover tobacco-related health costs. Most non-smokers disagree.

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The survey, done by Innofact AG on behalf of Comparis.ch, finds that 47% of the population smoke, a figure higher than other studies. 36% smoke daily, and 11% occasionally.

A Swiss government report puts the percentage at 32% for men and 24% for women.

Many smokers are unconcerned by the health risks. Only 42% of them fear tobacco-related illness. In French-speaking Switzerland, 47% worry about possible tobacco-related illnesses. This percentage falls to 38% in German-speaking Switzerland.

Male smokers care the least. 61% of them say they’re not bothered compared to 55% of women.

And while 83% of smokers think non-smokers should bear the health costs of their lifestyle choices, most non-smokers disagree. 60% are against supporting the health costs of this self-inflicted damage.

Switzerland’s compulsory health insurance offers no discounts to non-smokers, something viewed as unfair by the majority of the non-smokers questioned.

Felix Schneuwly from Comparis.ch thinks the federal government should give insurance companies more room to maneuver to reward healthy behaviour with premium discounts.

Non-smoking discounts would push up premiums for smokers who would be forced to face the true cost of their choices, while everyone else paid less.

That would be a breath of fresh air for Switzerland’s non-smokers, stuck dodging smoke on train platforms.

More on this:
Study press release – (in German)

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Government stops tax rises on Swiss cigarettes

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Swiss cigarette prices will not rise over the coming years unless manufacturers increase the underlying price. On Tuesday, Switzerland’s Council of States (upper house), withheld permission to allow the Federal Council (cabinet) to continue hiking the tax on smokes.

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From 2005 to 2015, the price of Switzerland’s best selling cigarettes rose from CHF 6 to CHF 8.50. Of this increase only CHF 0.90 cents related to tax. The rest, CHF 1.60, came from an increase in the underlying price. The tax has fluctuated between 52.8% (2015) and 56.7% (2009) of a packet over this period.

Every 10 cent tax increase raises roughly CHF 50 million, which is put into Switzerland’s social security pot, a fund that pays pensions and disability benefits. The total raised of between CHF 1.986 billion (2009) and CHF 2.396 billion, falls significantly short of the CHF 5.6 billion estimated health and societal cost of tobacco calculated by the Swiss Public Health Office.

The last time the Federal Council raised the tax was by 10 cents in 2013.

The reasoning presented by the Council of States for stopping the tax increases was the rise of the Swiss Franc. The upward shift in the currency has made Swiss cigarettes relatively expensive. The same packet is now cheaper in France (7.64), Germany (6.42), Italy (5.67) and Austria (5.34).

To combat smoking in Australia, the government plans to push the price of a packet of cigarettes to AUD 40 (CHF 30) by 2020, according to the Independent newspaper. The current recommended retail price for a pack of 25 is around AUD 27 (CHF 21). Australia’s tough stance on smoking seems to be working. In 2015, only 14.9% of Australians over 15 smoked, compared to 23.2% in Switzerland1. Switzerland had a higher smoking rate in 2015 (23.2%) than Australia had ten years earlier in 2005 (20.5%) – see PDF.

A detailed study in 2010 shows that smoking tobacco was the second biggest death risk in the US, after poor diet. That year in the US, tobacco smoking took more than 450,000 lives, and led to an average of over 11 years of disability – see chart.

More on this:
Parliamentary press release (in French) - Take a 5 minute French test now
1 World Health Organisation numbers – 2015

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Swiss parliament rejects tobacco advertising ban

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20 Minutes.

According to a study published by the Swiss federal office of public health last December1, two thirds of the Swiss public were in favour of banning tobacco advertising, everywhere except at the point of sale. 58% were even in favour of a blanket ban, while one in six wanted to see cigarette price increases. Switzerland’s parliament does not appear to share this view.

© Viorel Dudau | Dreamstime.com

© Viorel Dudau | Dreamstime.com

A plan put forward by Federal Councillor Alain Berset to restrict tobacco advertising was rejected by parliament today by 101 votes to 75. Those against the plan think it went too far and said there was nothing that proved that banning advertising would reduce tobacco consumption. In addition, they thought a federal ban limited the power of cantons to introduce stricter rules.

A 2013 World Health Organisation report2 said “complete bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship decrease tobacco use”. The WHO report also said that the best estimate is that the tobacco industry spends tens of billions of US dollars worldwide each year on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. In the United States alone, the tobacco industry spends more than US$ 10 billion annually.

Berset’s proposed rules would have banned advertising in public spaces, in cinemas, in the press and on the internet. Distribution of free samples and some promotional price reductions would have also been banned. According to a WHO report these practices are banned in Spain, France, Sweden, Holland, Portugal, the UK and a number of other European countries, but not Switzerland.

Corine Kibora, spokesperson for Addiction Suisse described parliament’s decision as “disappointing” and “proof that the arguments of lobbyists and the economy triumphed over the public’s health”, while adding that as the trend towards favouring individual choice over collective responsibility takes over we seem to have forgotten the central point: business and advertisers are driven to make sales.

According to Swiss federal office of public health, Swiss smokers dropped from 33% of the population in 2001 to 25% in 2015. However, since 2011, the number of smokers has stayed stubbornly high. In addition, it calculates the annual cost of tobacco at tens of billions of francs per year of which CHF 1.7 billion goes on medical treatments and CHF 3.9 billion on compensation for work absenteeism and invalidity. On the other hand, tobacco tax only brings in CHF 2 billion annually.

More on this:
Read full 20 Minutes article (in French) - Take a 5 minute French test now
Read full 20 Minuten article (in German)
1 Survey on advertising and price of tobacco – opens PDF (in French and German)
2 WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2013 – opens PDF (in English)

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Taking a cigarette on work time soon to be banned at this Swiss company

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Le Matin.

A company in the Swiss canton of Valais wants staff to clock out and back in again when they take smoking breaks. Under Swiss law the practice is perfectly legal and an increasing number of firms are implementing it, particularly in secondary industries such as manufacturing.

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© Victorass88 | Dreamstime.com

According to Le Matin, Compagnie industrielle de Monthey SA, a chemical company based at Monthey, jointly owned by BASF and Syngenta, plans to put such a system in place by the end of the year to redress the inequality between smokers and non-smokers.

“Legally, smoking breaks are not included in work time” said Jean-Marc Beyeler, the person in charge of labour law at Centre Patronal. Companies are free to choose whether they factor this in or not.

The workplace conciliation and arbitration service, Acas, in the UK cites a study that found UK smokers spent an average of one hour a day on smoking breaks, usually four breaks of fifteen minutes. While another study found that 30% of smokers spent more than hour a day puffing cigarettes outside. UK labour law allows everyone working more than six-hour days to take one unpaid 20 minute break. The unpaid nature of the break makes this similar to Swiss law.

An article in the New York Times suggests that taking breaks may improve productivity rather than reducing it. John P. Trougakos, an assistant management professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management, says mental concentration is similar to a muscle and needs a rest period before it can recover, much as a weight lifter needs to rest their muscles in between repetitions.

An alternative way to redress the inequality between smokers and non-smokers might be to allow non-smokers to take equivalent breaks. On the other hand, discouraging smoking breaks might help some to drop an unhealthy habit.

More on this:
Read full Le Matin article (in French) - Take a 5 minute French test now

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