George A. Fulton

Importance of tobacco to a country's economy: an appraisal of the tobacco industry's economic argument

In the face of mounting evidence on the health hazards of its products, the international tobacco industry has placed increasing reliance on emphasising the importance of tobacco to a countrys economy. Employing a wide variety of techniques,1 the intent of the industry is to persuade policy makers (heads of state, mini sters of trade and agriculture, legislators) to encourage expansion or development of tobacco industry activity or, at a minimum, to avoid adopting policy measures that would discourage tobacco product consumption. Dis regarding tobaccos physical health effects, the industry argues that tobacco is vital to the fiscal health of a country. One industry technique has involved hiring consulting firms to estimate the contribution of tobacco to a countrys economy.2 Then the industry presents decision makers with im pressive-looking figures on the numbers of jobs dependent on tobacco, the income they produce, and the tax revenues that are gener ated through sales of tobacco products. The industrys estimates, however, grossly overstate and inaccurately reflect the economic importance of tobacco. The analyses from which these estimates derive fail to consider