High cigarette prices are boosting black market purchases by French smokers ill-informed about safer alternatives.

A survey of 1,000 adults in France and has revealed that French citizens recognise the illicit tobacco trade as a threat to their security, safety and public health, even if they are not aware of its true size and of the real cost to state revenue. The findings were presented earlier this month in Paris by William Stewart, president of the global research firm Povaddo, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.

In recent years, the price of a packet of cigarettes in France has risen dramatically, to more than €10, due to tobacco tax increases. At the same time, there has been a worrying increase in smokers turning to illicit cigarettes, now estimated at 29% of total consumption in France.

The Povaddo survey covered 1,000 adults in each of 13 EU countries but the presentation focused on the results for France, which has by far the largest illicit cigarette trade in Europe, accounting for more than 15 billion cigarettes every year. The long term decline in the number of French smokers appears to have halted, with a small increase contrasting with falling numbers elsewhere.

More than three quarters (77%) of the French adult citizens surveyed are not only aware that the illicit tobacco trade has hit French state tax revenues; they also believe that the illicit trade in tobacco and other nicotine-containing products is a serious risk to safety, security and public health in their own country (78%), and throughout the EU (80%).

72% of the French people polled are convinced that illicit tobacco trade undermines efforts to reduce smoking rates, with 69% believing that as long as illicit cigarettes are available, any efforts to control smoking behavior is nullified. 74% believe that illicit tobacco creates a route for children to become smokers, with 67% also seeing it as an obstacle that prevents adults switching to less harmful alternatives.

The Povaddo survey also found that a large majority of the French population surveyed (69%) believes that combating illicit tobacco and nicotine-containing products is an essential part of tobacco control measures. 56% think current French anti-tobacco policy is ineffective and does not support adult smokers.

76% agreed that governments must consider the unintended consequence of boosting the illicit tobacco trade when deciding how to regulate and tax nicotine-containing products. 83% believed that excessive tobacco tax increases encourage illicit tobacco consumption, as the black market offers access to cheaper tobacco and nicotine-containing products.

At the same time, the Povaddo survey shows that a majority of the French respondents (56%) have little or no knowledge about existing smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes, such as e-cigarettes. Barely 14% appear to be familiar with heated tobacco products.

“The results of this survey show that the French public is open to a new policy strategy to tobacco control, because the ‘quit or die’ approach toward adult smokers that relies heavily on tobacco tax increases isn’t working and is, in fact, creating other negative consequences”, said William Stewart.

He was joined in a discussion of French tobacco control policy by Giorgio Rutelli, who’s editor-in-chief of the Italian public health and political magazine Formiche, as well as by Jean-Daniel Lévy, the deputy director of Harris Interactive France.

Giorgio Rutelli added that despite all the tobacco control measures applied around the world, the global number of adult smokers remains stable. “Therefore, I think it is necessary to find a new, more effective approach toward the adult smokers who are not willing to quit”, he said. “Countries need to evaluate the role of technologies and alternative, less harmful, products in the fight against smoking. Adult smokers who would otherwise not quit should be made aware of the available smoke-free alternatives”.

“We should engage policymakers, the scientific community, and civil society in a continuous debate on one of the most important public health issues of our time”, he added. Jean-Daniel Lévy observed that France lacked a culture of evaluating public policy. He believed that messages about giving up smoking had become less effective than those on diet, exercise and environmental protection because high taxes were seen as raising government revenue, not as a public health measure.

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