The health and economic implications of tobacco merit review A survey on smoking habits in India has revealed that the country is in the grip of a smoking epidemic. According to the study, by the year 2010, smoking could kill over a million people annually and account for nearly one in every 10 deaths in the country. Some 70 per cent of smokers will die before they reach the age of 70. Smoking will be the cause of death of one in five Indian males and one in 20 females aged 30 to 69 in the coming decade. The study has found that smoking cigarettes cut the life expectancy of men by 10 years and bidis by six years for men and eight years for women. It has revealed that light smoking too is harmful. The mortality risk of those who smoke one to seven cigarettes a day is doubled. This study has focused on smoking tobacco alone, which means that a large component of tobacco users of those who chew tobacco has been excluded. In India, tobacco chewing is far more widespread especially in rural areas. It is very likely then that the extent of tobacco-related mortalities in the country that the study has drawn attention to is just the tip of the iceberg. The Health Ministry has taken several steps in recent years to prevent smoking and has banned it in public places. There is a ban too on tobacco firms' advertising in and sponsoring sporting events. There is a move to ban images of smoking in films. But the implementation of these measures has been half-hearted. The ban on smoking in public places has remained on paper. Besides, while the government has taken some steps to reduce the demand for cigarettes, it has done little so far to address its supply. In fact the government has encouraged its production. Now that might be changing. The government has announced that it is working on a plan to reduce tobacco cultivation by half over the next decade. Besides the health implications, smoking has economic implications too. Illnesses caused by smoking, heart and lung problems, are expensive to treat. Governments have often cited revenue from tobacco or the employment generated by the bidi industry as reasons for its soft approach to the tobacco industry. But the burden on the exchequer from smoking-related health problems is enormous. It far outweighs the gains from revenue. Stubbing out cigarettes makes great economic sense too.