Calls to Change Policies to Combat Smoking Risks in Support of Smoke-free Products

During a panel discussion at the Global Nicotine Forum in Poland, medical professionals and public health experts called for the need to change policies to combat the phenomenon of smoking globally, by encouraging the spread of smoke-free products.

At the beginning of the session, panel moderator, and director of a global consulting firm, Clive Bates said that there are still 1.1 billion smokers in the world, of whom 8 million die annually, while hundreds of thousands of smokers are exposed to serious health risks due to traditional smoking. He added that we can contribute with practical steps to confront this phenomenon by supporting smoke-free products.

Dr. Carolyn Beaumont, Australian General Practitioner, shared her experience prescribing smoke-free products to smokers transitioning from traditional cigarettes. Her research revealed that over half of her patients who switched to e-cigarettes were men aged 30 to 50, indicating their preference for tobacco alternatives before long-term smoking damage occurs. She said that around 80 percent of her patients warned of a potential return to smoking if e-cigarettes became unavailable.

Dr. Alex Wodak, Former Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, said that reducing the annual death toll of 8 million should be the ultimate goal of international efforts to combat smoking crises. He pointed out that the increase in deaths associated with traditional smoking comes in the absence of support for harm reduction policies, which require the development of effective and integrated strategies.

Dr. Paul Newhouse, Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Cognitive Medicine stressed on the need to consider the multiple uses of nicotine, in the presence of smokers who do not want to quit smoking, within the framework of a general approach to applying the concept of harm reduction.

Tobacco burning is the main cause of smoking-related diseases. When tobacco burns, the temperature reaches 900-950 degrees Celsius, which results in large amounts of toxic and carcinogenic substances, while in the case of heated tobacco or e-cigarettes, the temperature does not exceed 350 degrees Celsius; leading to fewer chemical and thermal reactions, which in turn reduces many harmful and carcinogenic chemicals found in traditional tobacco products.

Latest scientific researches show that the toxins and harmful substances produced by burning tobacco in traditional cigarettes are less by about 94% or 96% when switching to the consumption of heated tobacco or e-cigarettes, providing better tobacco alternatives for smokers who are unwilling to quit smoking, while the best option is always to quit smoking completely.