WHO report on tobacco control warns of industry interference

The report reviews the implementation of all the policies defined in the MPOWER strategy (including taxes on tobacco sales, media campaigns, promotion of anti-tobacco counseling, messages on tobacco packages, etc.) in all the countries that have signed the anti-tobacco convention.

This is a successful experience in policies against a key risk factor in numerous chronic diseases, especially cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, but not only these. It also demonstrates how difficult and slow it is to implement policies in all countries in a homogeneous and equally effective way. Spain has implemented practically all the agreed policies, although there is still some way to go in terms of intensity and extension, but we are on the right track.

The report also explains the measures developed by the industry to try to minimize these policies. In this sense, it is an excellent review of the state of the art when a sufficiently long period of time has passed to evaluate the policy developed.

We must continue to go further down this path of preventing smoking, by far the leading preventable risk factor for cancer. About one third of all cancers would be prevented if we eliminated smoking.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first major international public health agreement promoted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) with the aim of preventing more than 8 million premature deaths caused annually by tobacco worldwide.

The main measures proposed by the WHO for the prevention and control of tobacco use are summarised in the acronym MPOWER, which stands for the following six lines of action: monitor tobacco use, protect people from tobacco smoke, offer help to quit smoking, warn about the risks of tobacco, enforce bans on tobacco advertising and promotion, and raise taxes on tobacco.

The WHO's recently published 2025 Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic shows that 155 countries have implemented at least one of the six MPOWER measures since the adoption of the FCTC, protecting 6.1 billion people, or 75% of the world's population, from tobacco. The WHO also estimates that there are currently 300 million fewer smokers worldwide than in 2008.

The WHO report highlights the high level of implementation of most of the MPOWER measures in Spain, although there are areas where progress could be made. For example, although in Spain—as in the rest of the European Union—it is mandatory to include illustrations and warnings about the effects of tobacco on cigarette packets, plain packaging has not yet been approved. Worldwide, 25 countries have successfully adopted plain tobacco packaging, which consists of providing all cigarette packets with uniform packaging regardless of brand, making tobacco less attractive and improving the perception of health warnings. This has been shown to reduce smoking initiation among adolescents and encourage smokers to quit.

Similarly, although Spain subjects tobacco products to a tax regime that contributes to higher retail prices, and has even recently approved a special tax on other nicotine products such as electronic cigarettes, the report shows that cigarettes are more affordable today than in 2014.

In short, the 2025 Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic shows the progress made over two decades to reduce the impact of tobacco on public health both globally and in Spain, while highlighting the urgent need to adopt proven measures such as plain packaging and tobacco price increases, as various organisations such as the National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking have been calling for in our country.