The Portuguese Society of Pneumology has labelled the government’s decision not to increase taxes on alcohol and tobacco in the context of the 2025 State Budget as “political irresponsibility” and “serious and unacceptable incompetence”. Speaking to Lusa, Sofia Ravara, coordinator of the Portuguese Society of Pneumology’s Working Committee on Smoking, said that the government’s decision is expected to see an increase in consumption (expected by whom, she did not elaborate): “tobacco and alcohol are legal but lethal consumer products”, she stressed, causing multiple cancers, chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular diseases, strokes and diabetes, and chronic liver disease, ‘among others’.
Medical specialists join chorus of lamentations over State Budget
