Holding the tobacco industry to account

Sir, – Plans to hold the tobacco industry to account for the waste it causes are welcome (“Tobacco firms compelled to pay for street cleaning”, News, December 31st). But the tobacco industry also needs to be held accountable for the devastating health impact caused by its products. This week, almost 100 lives will be lost and 1,000 people will be hospitalised because of smoking-related disease. As our health services struggle with exceptional demand, the reality is that at least 5 per cent of HSE bed capacity – the equivalent of St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin or University Hospital Limerick – is filled daily with people harmed by using tobacco industry products exactly as the manufacturer intended. Almost €500 million from the HSE annual budget is spent cleaning up the health harm caused by the tobacco industry’s products. It’s time for the Government to look seriously at making the tobacco industry pick up the bill.

A 2022 HSE Tobacco Free Ireland Programme report found that 78 per cent of people supported the idea of requiring tobacco companies to pay the State for the health costs due to the harm caused by tobacco products; there was majority support (58.9 per cent) among tobacco-product users. It’s over 20 years since the tobacco master settlement agreement in the US requiring the tobacco industry to pay hundreds of billions to address healthcare costs caused by smoking. Similar work is under way in Canada, with legislation already passed in a number of states enabling recovery of tobacco-related healthcare costs, and many other countries are following this lead.

As stalling smoking trends make the decade-old policy goal of a tobacco-free Ireland by 2025 look like wishful thinking, it’s time to match big ambition by renewing political commitment for courageous action, like recovery of costs to the public purse caused by the tobacco industry. – Yours, etc,

Prof DES COX,