Bad news for the smoking: another one is coming grip on the cigarette, that too electronics. It was to announce it Horace Schillaci, Minister of Health in a hearing in the Social Affairs Commission of the Chamber. Twenty years after the law that banned smoking in public places, the famous Sirchia law of 2003, the Minister of Health has every intention of giving a further crackdown on smoking to create a "tobacco-free generation", that is, as the European Plan against Cancer 2021 prescribes, a generation where less than 5% of the population consumes tobacco by 2040.
As? By extending the smoking ban to others outdoor places in the presence of minors and pregnant women and eliminating the possibility of equipping smoking rooms in closed rooms. But the new measures, explained Schillaci, will have to take into account "the constant growing diffusion of new products on the market, such as electronic cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, and the increasingly numerous evidence on their possible harmful effects on health" not only for smokers. For this reason, among the hypotheses, it is thought to extend the ban also to the emissions of new products containing nicotine, and with it the ban on advertising. “With this in mind, continued Schillaci, “the transposition by 23 July 2023 of the European Commission directive on the elimination of certain exemptions concerning heated tobacco products is also necessary and strategic”, to “allow entered into force on 23 October 2023”.
The electronic cigarette bucking the trend: twenty years of battle hasn't discouraged smokers
Initially met with controversy, the law that introduced the smoking ban in public places in Italy after its entry into force it found an unexpected success in the population. In 10 years, as certified by Istat, it led to a 5% reduction in heart attack hospitalizations each year and a 25% decrease in tobacco product sales. In 2015, the legislative decree transposing European directive 2014/40 was then issued: in the package of the then minister Beatrice Lorenzin there was the obligation to have photos of smoking damage on the packages, together with the toll-free number to help you quit, the ban on additives that make tobacco more attractive and the elimination of 10-packs.
After years of battles against smoking, new products have arrived, such as the electronic cigarette and the products of the smokeless tobacco, who called everything into question. According to ISS data, in 2022 almost one in 4 Italians (24% of the population) was still a smoker of cigarettes or loose tobacco. The trend is recovering after years of decline. The increase is constant, however, for people - generally very young - who smoke cigarettes with heated tobacco: 3,3% in 2022, compared to 1,1% in 2019. Furthermore, over 65% of cigarette users e-cigs and heated tobacco cigarettes feel free to use these products on public transport and in clubs.
Through the Survey Aspects of Daily Life, theIstat found that in 2021, 2,8% of people over the age of 14 (about 1 million) said they used electronic cigarettes, especially in the 18-34 age group (5,2%). The electronic cigarette is mainly used among males aged 25-34 (6,2%). Use gradually decreases as age increases, almost disappearing among the over 65s. A note from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità places the accent on the consumption of Italian teenagers, reported by the Global Youth Tobacco Survey. They show an increase in boys between the ages of 11 and 15 who habitually smoke cigarettes and habitually use electronic cigarettes. And therefore the number of adolescents who come into contact with the increases nicotine.
Where is smoking prohibited?
Local trials to further limit the possibilities of smoking have also been implemented in our country. TO Milano from 19 January 2021 it is forbidden to smoke, as well as in closed places, even in the open air if there are other people within a 10-metre radius. While, the region Puglia has decided to follow the virtuous example of the Catalans: on the beaches of Barcelona it is no longer possible to smoke since last summer. However, the ban on smoking on the beach in the Italian region will be active starting from 2023. However, there are several Italian municipalities that have imposed the no smoking on the beach: Chioggia in Veneto; Alba Adriatica in Abruzzo; Cesenatico, Ravenna and Rimini in Emilia Romagna; Anzio, Fiumicino, Gaeta, Ladispoli, Ponza, Sperlonga and Torvaianica in Lazio; Arenzano, Lerici, Sanremo and Savona in Liguria.
Instead in Europe, the Sweden it is the country that has made life more difficult for smokers, with a ban starting from 1 July 2019 on smoking in some outdoor areas, including playgrounds and open-air restaurants. The goal is to go smoke-free by 2025.
Out, surprisingly, the Mexico it has placed very many limits on smokers. There is not only a ban on smoking in a restaurant or an office, it is forbidden in any public space: in parks, on the beach, at the lake. And that's not all: cigarettes are also "demonized". The was placed total ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products, which cannot even be displayed in shops. Vaporizers and e-cigarettes are also subject to these new restrictions.
While among the most "strict" against smokers is the New Zealand, which transformed the prohibition of smoking in law thus becoming the first nation in the world to pass a measure that prohibits the sale of cigarettes to young people, i.e. anyone born on or after January 2009, 2025. The goal is to make New Zealand completely smoke-free by XNUMX. The measure is also accompanied by other measures: such as the sale only in specific specific points and and a increasing taxation which caused cigarette prices to skyrocket. However, the new law does not reduce the sale of electronic cigarettes, the use of which is increasing and will probably increase further and with it the number of smokers.
