New Telegraph

Novel Products Threaten Gains Against Tobacco Use

While the percentage of the population using tobacco globally has declined, novel products and misleading information from the tobacco industry, especially targeting young people, is threatening to undo those gains. On the eve of World No Tobacco Day marked on May 31, the Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr. Jarbas Barbosa has called for effective policies to protect young people.

“The tobacco industry and its allies do not rest. Currently, they spread a lot of misleading information that promotes, especially among young people, the use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products,” Dr. Barbosa said. “Although eight countries in the region have banned the marketing of e-cigarettes and four of heated tobacco products, we are concerned that 14 countries have not yet taken any regulatory action in this regard,” he added.

E-cigarettes are the most common form of electronic nicotine delivery. They are devices that have the shape of a cigarette, cigar, or pen and do not contain tobacco. Their emissions contain nicotine and other toxic substances that are harmful to both users and those exposed to them. Besides nicotine, e- cigarette aerosols can contain substances that harm the body. This includes cancer-causing chemicals and tiny particles that reach deep into lungs.

However, e-cigarette aerosol generally contains fewer harmful chemicals than smoke from burned tobacco products. According to the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), using any kind of tobacco product is unsafe, especially for kids, teens, and young adults. But worldwide, at least 14 million young people age 13 to 15 currently use tobacco products, according to CDC’s 2006-2017 Global Youth Tobacco Survey.

Tobacco companies, meanwhile, spend billions of dollars every year on marketing tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, and others. Since 1988, the WHO has used World No Tobacco Day to highlight the harmful effects of cigarettes and other tobacco products on a person’s overall health. This year, WHO is focusing on preventing youth tobacco product use and the tobacco industry’s attempts to attract youth.

This World No Tobacco Day, learn what individuals and communities can do to help keep young people tobacco-free, or help them quit for good. Tobacco products—including cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and most e-cigarettes—contain nicotine, which is an addictive drug. Being exposed to nicotine can also harm brain development, which continues through the teen years and up to age 25.

Exposure to nicotine during these important years can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control. To address the growing health threat posed by these products, the PAHO Director called on countries to implement policies to prevent their use, especially among young people, as they can become the gateway to regular tobacco consumption.

Tobacco use kills one million people per year in the Americas, one every 34 seconds. In addition, 15 percent of cardiovascular disease deaths, 24 percent deaths from cancer and 45 percent of deaths from chronic respiratory diseases are attributable to tobacco use. In the region, 11 per cent of young people use tobacco. Since the entry into force of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2005, the region has made great strides in tobacco prevention and control.

Currently, 96 percent of the population in 35 countries in the region is protected by at least one of the six recommended tobacco control measures. In 2020, South America became the first 100 per cent smoke-free sub-region – where there is a total ban on smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces, and on public transport. Mexico also adopted the 100 per cent smoke-free environment policy by the end of 2021 and banned all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

As a result, 63 per cent of the population of the Americas or more than 600 million people are now protected from exposure to tobacco smoke. In addition, in 2022, Paraguay ratified the Protocol to Eliminate the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, which will boost regional efforts in this area. “These achievements allow us to be confident that the region of the Americas will reach the target of a 30 per cent reduction in the prevalence of tobacco use in those over 15 years of age by 2025, established in the WHO’s Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases,” Dr. Barbosa said.

But to expedite progress, the PAHO Director considered it “urgent to accelerate efforts to implement key measures that have fallen behind, including tax increases, a total ban on the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco-products, and the adoption of mechanisms to manage conflicts of interest.”

Read Previous

Revamping Nigeria’s Manufacturing Sector Under New Dispensation

Read Next

Insecurity: Stakeholders Score Buhari Low, Urge Tinubu Not To Follow Same Path