Given that smoking is bad and that at least one billion people in the world do not give up the cigarette habit, the theme in the scientific community and among the majors that market tobacco and alternative products is: how is it possible to reduce the harm from smoking? A large part of science has for years been convinced that electronic cigarettes, despite initial doubts, are a good compromise, and with them heated tobacco devices (heat but not burn), such as Iqos by Philip Morris to name one that is produced and experienced for some time in Italy. It was still discussed on the occasion of the panel on the future of smoking in Europe, chaired by Dimitri Richter, head of the cardiology department of the Euroclinic hospital in Athens, as part of the Scientific Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction.
The discussion revealed that scientific evidence unfortunately clashes with the Plan against cancer presented by the Commission last February, which gave rise to adverse reactions among industry experts, which they have considered as an equation of new generation devices, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco, with classic cigarettes inevitably ends up benefiting conventional smoking. For Richter, the absence of a real regulatory body on the subject, following the example of the US FDA, complicates things, as does the fact that an analysis of harm reduction is not included in the European Cancer Plan. This latter aspect has been developed by individual countries, such as Sweden, but on which there is a lack of a common European gaze.
“And yet there are no more doubts: e-cigs are over 95% less harmful than cigarettes”, says Giovanni Li Volti, director of Coehar, the Research Center for the reduction of harm from smoking in Catania. “Those who fail to quit smoking must not be abandoned by health policies and where there is repeated failure the use of less harmful alternative devices will have a positive effect for many smokers”. “The scientific evidence – continues Li Volti – is currently strong enough to support that there are alternative products to smoking that are less harmful compared to the traditional cigarette, for this reason we believe this evidence on harm reduction should be adopted as complementary policies to those on tobacco control".
“The main difficulty in studies of reduced-risk products comes from the innumerable variables that come into play when trying to scientifically quantify the cytotoxicity and effects of exposure to vapor produced by e-cigarettes in the lungs,” Massimo Caruso noted in his speech. , researcher in Biochemistry of the Cohear co-project leader of 'Replica'. “Although the laboratory difficulties are many, at Coehar we have demonstrated, with two studies already published on this topic, that for smokers the transition to e-cigs can also reduce the damage on the state of lung health".
In the fight against cigarette addiction there is already a model of intervention and prevention policies which has blazed the trail in Europe, also obtaining important results in reducing consumption at a national level over the years (especially among young people): it is the model applied in the United Kingdom: “The English approach to harm reduction is also based on the compassionate use of electronic devices, as an alternative to the traditional cigarette, and is an additional and complementary strategy to traditional nicotine replacement therapies. It is a pragmatic approach but based on scientific evidence. E-cigarettes may help smokers quit smoking more than nicotine replacement therapies, such as gum and patches, and more than behavioral support or no support at all. We need to focus more on harm reduction and not on abstinence in order to increase the share of people who stop being addicted to smoking”.
The United Kingdom has set itself the goal of achieving an almost complete reduction (only a prevalence of around 2030% or less) of smoking in society by 5 thanks to the 'Smokefree 2030' programme, but also Sweden and Norway are achieving encouraging results.
