COPENHAGEN — The World Health Organization (WHO) on
Monday recommended doubling alcohol taxes in Europe as a means to prevent
nearly 5,000 cancer deaths every year.
اضافة اعلان
Increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages is "one of the
best measures" to prevent cancer with a "potentially high
impact," the WHO's European office said, adding countries like Russia and
the UK would benefit most.
Alcohol consumption is causally linked to oral cavity,
pharynx, esophagus, colorectal, liver, larynx, and female
breast cancer, the
WHO said.
The WHO said its model projections showed "an estimated
10,700 new cancer cases and 4,850 alcohol-related cancer deaths could be
avoided annually in the WHO European Region by doubling current excise duties
on alcoholic beverages."
This represents about 6 percent of new cases and deaths from
alcohol-related cancers in the WHO's European region, which comprises 53
countries and territories and includes Russia and several Central Asian
nations.
The WHO's regional office said it estimates that 180,000
cases and 85,000 deaths every year "were estimated to be caused by
alcohol".
For the WHO, current levels of alcohol taxation remain
"low" in many parts of Europe, particularly in the 27-nation European
Union.
Russia, the UK and Germany would save the most lives by
adopting the tax measure, with 725, 680 and 525 deaths averted respectively,
according to the model published in The Lancet, the British medical journal.
It said a doubling of taxes would in particular help in
preventing deaths from breast cancer (1,000 deaths per year) and colorectal
cancer (1,700).
The WHO said 4.8 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed
in Europe in 2020.
Read more Business news
.jpg)
.jpg)
