A 87-year-old is three times more likely to die of cancer than a 20-year-old who starts it ten years later, and around 15% of smokers start by age 24. In the 15,9-21,8 age group, XNUMX% of males and XNUMX% of females smoke. About a million and a half young people”. These are some of the main data, announced by Senator Pd Ignatius Marino, during presentation in the Senate of the study edited by the i-think association, the think tank of which he is president. The most alarming fact, however, is that every day between 80.000 and 100.000 young people start smoking. “The life span of a habitual smoker is about 10 years shorter than that of a non-smoker – reports the President of the Commission of Inquiry into the National Health Service – and the average daily cigarette consumption of a boy does not differ significantly from that of an adult. The young people of this time, on the issue of smoking are projected into the present, they do not see their future health at risk. On the contrary, the risk becomes value, the damage to which we are exposed becomes an index of courage".
The anti-smoking bill. Marino also spoke of the bill "Provisions for the protection of health and for the prevention of damage deriving from the consumption of tobacco products” of which he is the first signatory together with the president of the Senate Hygiene and Health Commission Antonio Tomassini. “All the deterrence and prevention tools to dissuade young people from starting to smoke and help them quit – announces Marino – are contained in the bipartisan bill". "The bill has no cost – Tomassini added – and has already obtained the approval procedure from the Health Commission. But then it will be up to the House”. But it is possible that the text could turn into an amendment to the upcoming Health Decree, as confirmed by the Minister of Health Renato Balduzzi. "I said that on some points of the Health Decree Law the Government has opened a window and that from this point of view I favorably see an integration of these contents in the event that there is an agreement within the majority that supports the Government".
Along the same lines as the i-think studio, the multinational like the British American Tobacco. "We too - he has declared John Carucci Vice President of British American Tobacco Italia, which also financed the independent study – We agree with the general layout of the bill, which we believe is very effective in combating underage smoking, concentrating efforts on prevention and information and not on purely interdictory measures. Contrary to what seems to be emerging at the European level, where unreasonably restrictive measures are being developed, bordering on prohibition, which will not reduce the incidence of underage smoking and will increase smuggling”. The reference is to the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive initiated by DG SANCO of European Commission, which Minister Balduzzi also spoke about. “CertainlygThe interests of businesses certainly cannot prevail over health. As regards the issue of the Directive, I invite the Commission to move forward, but gradually and equilibrium".
The EU Tobacco Directive. As anticipated in recent days from the German newspaper Die Welt (without denials by the Commission), the main provisions of the Directive would be aimed at a quasi-prohibitionist tightening. In fact, the text would provide for the occupation of 70% of the package with health warnings and shock images (so-called pictorials) aimed at the visual description of the effects of smoking on health, on the model of what was decided in Australia in recent months. But opinions on the subject are somewhat divergent. President Tomassini himself underlined how “there is no evidence of the results of this type of choice”, and a recent study by “The European House – Ambrosetti” highlighted the lack of proportionality between the expected results for public health with the adoption of the generic package and the economic and social consequences for the players in the supply chain which represents an important flywheel for employment, involving a total of over 200 workers: 53 in tobacco growing, 5.500 in primary processing, 740 in manufacturing, 2.700 in the distribution of smoking products and 140 in tobacco shops. The new framework of rules would not generate certain benefits, but would significantly penalize farmers, processors, producers and retailers, fueling smuggling and counterfeiting with significant consequences on the treasury and the general economy of the country. The same study shows instead the importance of regulating devices such as electronic cigarettes or alternatives like Snus, a moist powdered tobacco for oral use, authorized in Sweden but not in other member states including Italy, where it has almost supplanted the consumption of cigarettes.
The possible economic impact. The "tepid" words on the Directive by Minister Balduzzi also derive from a series of inevitable concerns. In fact, the introduction of the generic package would further stimulate the already significant phenomenon of counterfeiting as well as determining significant side effects, such as the lowering of prices (which has already occurred in Australia) with a consequent, and paradoxical, increase in the number of smokers and a significant reduction in tax revenue, attributable to lower sales of tobacco products and the increase in the illegal market. Just think that at present the EU and its member states lose up to 10 billion euros a year in unpaid taxes due to counterfeit and smuggled tobacco products.
All risks that clearly emerge from the iThink study, which in fact shuns prohibitionist indications, but focuses on solutions such as the allocation of funds dedicated to the fight against smoking, the adoption of campaigns to prevent smoking initiation from the early school years , support therapies guaranteed by the National Health Service for smokers who intend to quit, the regulation of new tobacco-based but low-risk products (e.g. Snus), with a view to expanding the offer of nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) and a balanced increase in taxation on all tobacco products
