Il tobacco smoke it represents the second leading cause of death worldwide and the leading cause of preventable death. It causes more deaths than alcohol, AIDS, drugs, road accidents, homicides and suicides combined. According to the data provided by theWorld Health Organization (WHO), every year around eight million people die from smoking-related diseases in the world, 80% of whom are active smokers. In Italy, smoking kills about 93 people every year. And the pandemic hasn't helped: because of the Covid and the consequent lockdown, many have started or resumed smoking, tobacco or electronic cigarettes. According to the latest surveys, in 2019-2020 22% of the population smoked, a percentage that rose to 26,2% in May 2021, to then resume its decline to 24,2% in May 2022.
Philip Morris International announced the results for 2022. As of December 31, over 17 million adult smokers worldwide have switched to Iqos and have completely abandoned cigarettes, of which about 2 million in Italy alone. In the medium term, PMI's goal is that by 2025 revenues from "combust-free" products will represent at least 50% of the total, converting at least 40 million adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke cigarettes to combust-free products.
Still Too Many Smokers: What Can Be Done?
Tobacco smoking is effectively one of the worst epidemics ever faced globally. It has been fought for years all over the world through a series of initiatives with the aim of discouraging people from starting, or giving up. According to the WHO there are still over a billion smoking and about the same number of people will also smoke in 2025.
It is clear that in the current stalemate it is appropriate to ask what more can be done, both in terms of prevention - for example by increasing taxation (as recently done also by theItaly) – both in terms of cessation. A few days from the 20 years of the Sirchia law, the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci expressed, in his first public statement on the subject of smoking, the direction he intends to adopt on the question: "a generation free from tobacco" and not only from traditional cigarettes.
Why is smoking bad?
Cigarettes produce tar, a residue of smoke that is generated as a result of combustion. Smokeless products heat liquid or tobacco sticks without generating combustion. By producing no smoke, the resulting aerosol is substantially different and has significantly lower levels of harmful substances.
Combustion is the main cause of smoking-related diseases. Nicotine is addictive, but it's the other chemicals in smoke, emitted when you burn a cigarette, that are the main cause of smoking-related illnesses. Smokeless products, as they do not generate combustion, allow the smoker to obtain a satisfaction similar to that which they would have from smoking a cigarette, but with a significantly lower production of harmful chemical substances.
Eurispes survey on heated tobacco and vaping
Many smokers have switched from traditional cigarettes to smokeless products. From the survey on heated tobacco and vaping carried out by Eurispes, it was recorded that 95,7% of the respondents declared that they had previously smoked traditional cigarettes, while 81,5% of users declared that they had ceased to consume cigarettes , significant data given the share of smokers who have never tried to quit smoking (62%).
According to the latest Censis survey (November 2022), about one in five smokers switched to products without combustion and stopped smoking altogether. Among the reasons for changing habits in favor of products without combustion, the one linked to the perception that they are potentially less harmful to health prevails: both current consumers of traditional products who have used products without combustion think so (38,3%), and those who currently use them exclusively (46,8%).
The least tolerant countries with “traditional” smokers
There are countries that instead boast the best results in the fight against traditional smoking such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden and New Zealand. However, they have adopted policies that include smokeless products in anti-smoking strategies.
UK
Il UK it is the first country to have encouraged smokers to switch to alternative products, alongside very restrictive policies on cigarettes. The introduction of these products has been shown to have a significant impact in terms of public health, also demonstrating a strong link with the collapse in cigarette sales.
United States
The United States has been at the forefront of anti-smoking policies for decades, with the incidence halved in the last 50 years (from over 40% in 1965 to less than 20% already in 2014) and an estimated effect of over 8 million of premature deaths avoided. For years now the federal agency Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - the body responsible, among other things, for the regulation of drugs and tobacco products - recognizes the principle of harm reduction for the fight against smoking. The FDA has provided for the introduction of the category "Risk Modified Tobacco Products", a status that can only be obtained following an articulated review process of the scientific evidence available on new products. Based on this evidence, the agency determines whether or not a product is appropriate for the "protection" or "promotion of public health", taking into account the overall risks and benefits. In 2020, the FDA authorized the marketing of two products falling into this category: an electronic system for heating tobacco, and SNUS tobacco for oral use, the latter having the status of "reduced risk" product compared to tobacco smoke. cigarette.
New Zealand
In New Zealand the problem of smoking is historically deeply felt: laws against tobacco abuse were recorded as early as 1876.
The measures launched so far appear to be only the first step towards a more radical eradication of smoking in the country. It is the Government itself that has declared that it aims to make New Zealand whole smoke free by 2025, providing, among other things, for a ban on the purchase of cigarettes for anyone born after 2008.
To achieve this goal, New Zealand has also opened up to new tools: the New Zealand Parliament has recognized the e-cigarette as a useful tool to help smokers quit and did so with a law that entered into force in November 2020.
Japan
Following the introduction of the first combustion-free devices in Japan, between 2015 and 2019, total cigarette sales decreased by 34%. the market share of heated tobacco it is now equal to over a quarter (25,8%) of the total tobacco market, resulting in the most significant contraction ever in the cigarette market. Two independent studies show that the decline in cigarette sales in Japan is likely caused by the introduction of heated tobacco products: “Effect of IQOS introduction on cigarette sales: evidence of decline and replacement"and "What Is Accounting for the Rapid Decline in Cigarette Sales in Japan? "
Sweden
It is the only country in the European Union where the sale of SNU extension – powdered oral tobacco – is still permitted. Today, the WHO itself recognizes that Swedish men have the lowest lung cancer rate in Europe, also thanks to the low incidence of cigarette smoking. According to the European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA) group, “In Sweden, smoking has already fallen close to the EU's 2040 target, with current smokers at 7%. Lower smoking rates translated into lower levels of cancer and other serious diseases in Sweden, especially among men, the main users of SNUS."
