• JAPANESE
• ENGLISH

Aiming to Realize a Smoke-Free Society

Scientific studies have shown that smoking causes various diseases, such as systemic cancer, stroke, heart disease, and COPD. At the Institute for New Era Strategy, we believe that smoking cessation is the most desirable way to lower the health risks of the population and promote smoking cessation policies.
However, achieving zero smokers is an exceptionally ambitious goal, and the success of smoking cessation by individual smokers is not guaranteed. As a practical first step, INES is researching smoking issues with the aim of creating a smoke-free society (a society that is as comfortable as possible for people who do not smoke), focusing on reducing social risks such as strong smells, smoke, and fires characteristic of cigarettes.

Study Group Members（in Japanese alphabetical order, honorifics omitted）

Kazumasa Oguro	Professor, Faculty of Economics, Hosei University
Tetsuo Kabe	Visiting Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, University of Tokyo (former Commissioner of the National Tax Agency)
Kenji Shibuya	Research Director, The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
Masaru Seo	President, SlowNews, Inc.
Toshihiko Takeda	Senior Advisor, Boston Consulting Group (former Director-General of the Health Policy Bureau, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
Takero Doi	Professor, Faculty of Economics, Keio University
Takako Masai	Chairperson, SBI Financial and Economic Research Institute

What is “Harm Reduction”?

In a literal sense, harm reduction means reducing harm. An international NGO, Harm Reduction International, defines harm reduction as policies, programs, and practices with the primary aim to reduce the adverse health, social, and economic effects of using psychoactive drugs, whether illegal or not and regardless of whether there is a reduction in the usage amount. In addition to the promotion of smoking cessation, we believe that tobacco harm reduction is a realistic solution. In other countries, the concept of harm reduction, through which people are encouraged to “switch to heated tobacco products (HTPs), involving less harmful substance exposure than combustible cigarettes, and e-cigarettes, which present reduced harm,” has become popular as a policy tool.

Proposal

Unlike other countries, the Japanese government has not adopted the concept of harm reduction. However, data show that while the number of smokers is decreasing every year, HTP users are on the rise in Japan.
The Tax Reform Proposals released at the end of 2022 included the government’s decision to increase tobacco taxes, along with corporate and income taxes, in order to secure funds for the defense budget hike, and serious considerations were made to raise the tax rate on HTPs to the same current rate as combustible cigarettes. We are concerned that this measure will once again increase passive smoking and health risks. For Japan to truly aim for a healthy aging society, it is desirable not only to secure the necessary tax revenue by increasing tobacco taxes but also to choose policy measures that will maintain and improve public health at the same time.
Based on this understanding, the study group invites relevant experts to join us to deepen solution-oriented discussions and to compile proposals aimed at serving as a rational opinion of an independent third party.

▼For more information on the activities and proposals of the Study Group, please see the following documents (in Japanese only)
[ Document ] Establishment of the Study Group on Public Health and Harm Reduction – Proposal on Tobacco Policy

Supporters of our activities and proposals
（in Japanese alphabetical order, honorifics omitted）

“One Step,” an awareness-raising video aimed at realizing a smoke-free society

Activity reports (Japanese only)

Reference(Japanese only)

The following is a list of published articles on tobacco harm reduction.