Hygeia Public Health 2017, 52(3): 281-285pl

Assessment of non-domestic cigarette consumption in selected Polish cities

Monika Jańczak ^1/, Adriana Och ^1/, Łukasz Balwicki ^2/

1/ Studenckie Koło Naukowe Zdrowia Publicznego, Gdański Uniwersytet Medyczny
2/ Zakład Zdrowia Publicznego i Medycyny Społecznej, Gdański Uniwersytet Medyczny

Summary
Introduction. Cigarette smoking is still a significant phenomenon in Poland and some cigarettes are not always intended for the Polish market.
Aim. To assess the non-domestic cigarette consumption in Gdansk and Bydgoszcz.
Material and method. We collected 292 cigarette packs discarded in streets (158 in Gdansk, 134 in Bydgoszcz). The streets were randomly selected from electoral constituencies, four research areas for each city.
Results. The data revealed that 70.9% of packs collected in Gdansk had excise tax marks and in Bydgoszcz 67.9%. The packs with the tax stamp reached 11.4% in Gdansk and 13.4% in Bydgoszcz. Other than Polish excise tax marks were found on 0.6% of the packs collected in Gdansk, and on 2.2% in Bydgoszcz. 2.5% of the packs collected in Gdansk and 1.5% in Bydgoszcz had duty free zone tax stamps. We estimated that 94.3% of the cigarette packs in Gdansk and 90.3% in Bydgoszcz had Polish health warnings. Only 5.1% of the collected packages in Gdansk and 9.7% in Bydgoszcz had health warning labels in a foreign language which may indicate that the packs were produced for other countries. The similarity also refers to the presence of cellophane cover on 84.2% of the packs in Gdansk vs. 81.3% in Bydgoszcz.
Conclusion. The share of collected discarded packs of cigarettes suspected to be illicit is not significant. The cigarette pack collection method can help in estimation of the size of illicit cigarette market. Policy makers should base their tobacco control decisions on independent research.

Key words:  tobacco, cigarette smoking, Poland, tobacco industry, cigarette consumption