Does the government want to shut down e-cigarettes?
What the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, proposes on cigarettes, e-cigs and heated tobacco products. Facts, numbers and controversy on the hypothesis of greater smoking bans
Update and expand the Sirchia law against smoking, which turns twenty this year. These are the intentions of the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, who anticipated yesterday during a hearing in the Chamber.
The intention is to extend the smoking ban to more outdoor venues and limit both electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) and heated tobacco products to reach a "tobacco-free generation" by 2040. An ambition that New Zealand, by introducing a ban on the sale of cigarettes to those born after 2009, hopes to achieve even by 2025.
Furthermore, the proposal aims to fulfill the objectives desired by the National Oncological Plan and to adapt to those of the European Plan for the fight against cancer ( Europe's Beating Cancer Plan ).
EXPAND AND UPDATE THE SIRCHIA LAW
During the hearings at the Social Affairs and Health commissions of the Chamber and Senate on the programmatic lines of his dicastery, Schillaci announced that he intends to propose the updating and extension of article 51 of law 3/2003.
MORE OUTDOOR SMOKING BANS AND NO SMOKING ROOMS
To do so, Schillaci proposed to "extend the ban on smoking to other outdoor places in the presence of minors and pregnant women". Currently, in fact, it is forbidden to smoke outdoors only outside hospitals or in school courtyards.
The minister also suggested "eliminating the possibility of equipping smoking rooms in closed rooms".
HARD FIGHT (ALSO) TO VAPERS
Crackdown also on alternative cigarettes, considered by those in favor of the proposals as harmful as the traditional ones. The idea would be to "extend the ban also to the emissions of new smokeless products (electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products).
To which is also added the extension of the "prohibition of advertising to new products containing nicotine and devices for heated tobacco products". Already today it is not possible to promote refill liquids or tobacco but devices can.
GOAL “TOBACCO-FREE GENERATION”
The announced measures are aimed at achieving the "tobacco-free generation" goal, in line with the European plan to fight cancer, which calls on countries to ensure that by 2040 less than 5% of the population smokes.
Schillaci in fact recalled that smoking is still "the main cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in Italy".
HOW MUCH WE SMOKE IN ITALY
However, it will not be a simple battle since, according to data from the Higher Institute of Health and Mario Negri cited by Repubblica , in Italy 24% of over 14s are smokers, 12.4 million people, or one Italian out of four .
With regard to new generation cigarettes, 2.4% smoke e-cigarettes and 3.3% heated tobacco products. Percentages, which according to the Roman newspaper, are "all on the rise, even more after Covid".
THE NATIONAL ONCOLOGICAL PLAN
"I confirm all my commitment to financing the National Oncology Plan, which is the planning and guidelines document for the prevention and fight against cancer for the five-year period 2022-2027", a strategic framework "to improve the level of implementation of screening programs , increasing the levels of coverage and adhesion and reducing the territorial inhomogeneity”, said Schillaci.
A subject closely linked to smoking, in fact, according to data from the Ministry of Health, tobacco is the risk factor with the greatest impact on tumors, to which at least 43,000 deaths per year are attributable.
In Italy, the dicastery continues, it is estimated that over 93,000 deaths are attributable to tobacco smoke (20.6% of all deaths among men and 7.9% of all deaths among women) with direct and indirect costs of over 26 billion euros (Tobacco Atlas sixth edition).
In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that exposure to secondhand smoke causes 1.2 million deaths each year, of which 65,000 are children.
WHO EXULTS AND WHO DOESN'T
While more or less everyone agrees on the harm caused by cigarette smoking, the defenders of the vape are not there to be put on the same level. “This is not the right approach because vaping cannot be equated to traditional tobacco. Personal vaporizers are harm reduction tools for regular cigarette smokers. We need to open a technical table to discuss with those who know well a market in continuous expansion worldwide”, said Carmine Canino, president of the National Association of e-cig consumers (Anpvu).
However, Roberta Pacifici, director of the National Addiction Center of the Higher Institute of Health (ISS), does not agree: “There is an alarming increase in the consumption of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco. We have all the elements to be able to say that they are harmful to health. […] With regard to heated tobacco, there are no elements to consider them as low-risk. And those who consume them, we have found, are less willing to start the process of quitting".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/governo-e-cig/ on Wed, 18 Jan 2023 12:04:27 +0000.