Study: 78% of Physicians Believe Cigarette Smoke Is Reason Behind Smoking-related Risks, Not Nicotine

A recent research study that surveyed 15,000 physicians from 11 countries around the world found that 78% of doctors agree that cigarette smoke from the combustion of tobacco is the main cause of health risks, not nicotine itself, which aligns with many recently proven scientific studies.

Sermo, the only dedicated social network for doctors in the world providing healthcare insights, conducted a survey, funded by the Foundation for a ‘Smoke-Free World’, to collect feedback from 15,000 physicians specialized in internal medicine, cardiology, pulmonology, oncology, and psychiatry in 11 countries around the world, including the United States, China, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, and South Africa, to understand the causes of smoking-related diseases.

Scientific research confirms that the combustion of tobacco in cigarettes is the main cause of the harm caused by traditional smoking, where the combustion process takes place at a temperature starting from 400 degrees Celsius, which produces smoke that contains more than 6,000 harmful chemical compounds, of which about 100 have been classified as harmful or potentially harmful to human health.

Therefore, some alternative tobacco products have resorted to heating tobacco instead of burning it at a temperature not exceeding 350 degrees Celsius, so that no smoke is produced, and the levels of harmful chemicals are reduced by up to 95% compared to cigarette smoke. However, this does not necessarily mean that the harm caused by smoking is reduced by the same proportion, nor are they completely risk-free.

Between 71% and 94% of the physicians included in the Sermo study agreed that quitting smoking is the best and first option smokers should do. They also expressed their desire to receive the necessary training on smoking cessation and harm reduction programs.

For his part, David Khayat, the French oncologist said that nicotine is not the primary cause of smoking-related diseases such as cancer, explaining that inhaling the smoke that results from the burning ash of a cigarette is the main reason behind many risks and toxins.

Khayat stressed that the target is to quit smoking. However, because there will always be some people who don’t quit, here comes the importance of the harm reduction concept and the smoke-free products that must be utilized, and research should be encouraged for even newer and less harmful products.

Khayat recommends that those who do not want to quit smoking should reduce harm by relying on smoke-free alternative tobacco products that rely on heating instead of burning.