A bill to save lives

In New York a few years ago, I watched “Bodies” – that exhibit of real human bodies and body parts obtained from Chinese morgues (unclaimed cadavers, according to the exhibit FAQ) and subjected to polymer preservation.

The section on organs showed lungs in various stages of deterioration from nicotine exposure and then consumed by cancer. The exhibit was as ghastly as the livers in various stages of being shriveled by alcoholism and then stricken with cirrhosis.

Doctors told me that the human liver does not recover from damage, even years after an alcoholic has kicked the habit. Lungs, I was told, can heal a bit after someone quits smoking, but lung regeneration is minimal, and air sacs damaged by emphysema cannot be saved.

As vulnerable to respiratory illnesses as chronic smokers are non-smokers, including children, who are exposed to second-hand smoke. I know a chain smoker who is now burdened with the high cost of having his non-smoking eldest daughter, still in grade school, undergo treatment for serious lung damage.

Many moons ago I tried smoking; teenagers try everything. But just one attempt and I knew smoking was not for me. I know, however, that there are millions – billions? – of people out there, men and women of all ages, who can’t live without their daily nicotine fix. 

Will they kick the habit if cigarette prices take an astronomical leap? Certainly not affluent smokers. But for smokers on a tight budget, from the middle-middle class down to the very poor, it’s a safe bet that high prices will force them, if not to go cold turkey, then at least to cut cigarette consumption.

That should mean substantial savings in health care, both for private individuals and the state.

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In fact the price increase will not be that high: approximately 46 centavos more per stick starting next year, or an additional P9.20 per pack, or P276 for 30 days. That’s just P27.60 more for those with a three-pack daily habit.

For smokers on a tight budget, it sounds horrible if percentages are used. Opponents of the sin tax bill are warning of a price increase of 1,000 percent. As far as non-smokers like me are concerned, if a price hike compels smokers to quit cold turkey, then the increase should be 2,000 percent.

According to groups pushing for the enactment of the so-called sin tax bill, a number of them health professionals, higher cigarette prices will compel an estimated 2.5 million Pinoy smokers to kick the habit, and about 75,000 lives will be saved every year.

Sure, it may imperil the livelihoods of the country’s tobacco growing northern regions. But sin tax supporters point out that the bulk of the Philippine tobacco harvest is sold overseas anyway. Agriculture experts can step in and help affected tobacco farmers shift to other cash crops.

Our researchers may also want to pursue research on other uses for tobacco. Maybe it works as an insect repellent. Some Philippine history books include accounts of tobacco juice being used to ward off leeches, so maybe it will work against mosquitoes.

Tobacco growers may also want to shift to high-value varieties for expensive cigars and pipe smoking – still popular in several parts of the world.

I’ve always wondered why passive smoke triggers an allergic reaction in me, but not smoke from a pipe. I’ve also wondered why my relatives in the northern regions lived a long time – up to their 80s and 90s – despite regular smoking. Several of the women smoked with the lit end inside their mouth.

The only theory I can come up with for the longevity is that my relatives smoked hand-rolled cigars with no filters. If the stories are accurate, filters used by Big Tobacco boost nicotine intake and make smoking addictive.

The P45 billion that the government hopes to raise from the sin tax reforms will go not just to public health care but also to assistance programs for tobacco workers.

The sin tax measure also covers alcoholic beverages. It seeks to address long-standing complaints of exporting countries that our tax system on alcoholic beverages is skewed in favor of local interests. Before our government got serious with the sin tax reforms, certain foreign governments were considering filing a complaint against the Philippines before an international body.

There’s an abundance of reasons for passing the sin tax reforms. Yet the proposals, in various forms, have languished in the legislative mill for the past 16 years – a testament to the lobbying power of Big Tobacco and other special interest groups.

Our tobacco producers understandably do not want to focus on niche markets or consider shifting to other crops. The situation ain’t broke, as far as they are concerned, so why fix it? But they will have to start facing the reality that the world of smokers gets smaller every day.

The sin tax reforms should be just the latest step in that direction.