90% of Spaniards, in favor of expanding smoke-free spaces and toughening the law against tobacco
The Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SemFYC), which brings together more than 22,000 primary care physicians, has alerted this Tuesday about the worrying increase in the consumption of products derived from tobacco between minors and youth.
The use of vapers or hookahs is “multiplying” and the danger is that the youngest have “the false feeling that they are innocuous”, when they are “toxic” and the “gateway” to traditional tobaccoaccording to what Susana Morena, coordinator of the XXIV Week Without Smoke, has warned, an activity organized by the scientific society to raise awareness about the damage to health that tobacco implies.
Within the framework of this campaign, the entity has published its annual survey on addiction (carried out among 9,700 people), which reveals that 20.8% of minors between 14 and 18 years old regularly consume electronic cigarettes, 14.3% hookahs and 13.1% smoke. In addition, 7.5% of minors consume tobacco mixed with cannabis.
In the next age group, between 19 and 24 years, the type of consumption is reversed: the number of smokers of conventional tobacco (19%), while vaping and hookah are consumed to a lesser extent (13.8% and 11.5% respectively).
the front door
The increase in the consumption of conventional cigarettes from the age of 18 indicates, according to the doctors, that vapers or hookahs are “the front door” to normal tobacco, that is, young people first try new products, under the belief that they are innocuous, and then fall into the addiction to normal tobacco.
“Several studies show that the risk of starting to smoke is between four and seven times higher among e-cigarette consumers,” Morena explained in the survey presentation. In her opinion, the increase in the use of vapers is due to the “aggressive” campaigns of marketing carried out by the tobacco industry, which is promoting these products even among preteens from eight or nine years old, with vapers with children’s and collectible designs, to “encourage their addiction.”
These campaigns “disseminate that they are harmless products” and are having an effect: 40% of those surveyed are unaware, for example, that hookahs or water pipes are harmful, whether they are used with nicotine or not. However, various investigations indicate that new tobacco products affect the respiratory tract and may contribute to the appearance of some types of cancer.
Measures
For this reason, primary care physicians urge the launch of information campaigns that warn about new forms of consumption, preferably aimed at young people, and demand toughen tobacco law. His request has majority support in society. The same survey indicates that 91% of Spaniards are in favor of the legislation being modified so that smoking is also prohibited in all terraces, beaches, cars or bus stops, five points more than a year ago.
“It is evident that there is a growing citizen demand in favor of progress in smoke prevention policies,” stressed the expert from the medical society. And it is that, 13 years after the approval of the tobacco law, 87% of those surveyed state that they are exposed to environmental smoke in many outdoor spaces, despite the fact that this exposure is also “toxic”.