Smoking: main avoidable cause of death

It is affirmed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and adds 5 more data:

* Tobacco kills 5 million of people every year, one million in Latin America.

* It is the only legal consumer product that kills when used, exactly according to the manufacturer's instructions.

* Half of smokers they will die for an illness caused by tobacco and they will lose an average of 10 years of life.

* Not only affects the smoker, but also the exposed smoker .

* Tobacco is an industry that it costs the world economy around 200 billion dollars a year in care services for people affected by their consumption.

PAHO has a Tobacco Control Program that aims to reduce the burden of disease, death and economic damages caused by the use of tobacco and by the exposure to secondhand smoke . As consumption continues to rise in many parts of the world, it is becoming more important than ever for governments and civil society to work together to protect citizens and educate them about the dangers associated with their use, the Pan American Sanitary Authority notes.

 

Prevention among children and young people

The bad news: PAHO admits that prevention programs on smoking in schools have not been effective in the long term, although some studies indicate that in the short term a lower level of smoking youth has been reported. Among the proposals made by PAHO to reduce tobacco use among children and young people, the following stand out:

 

  • the environments smoke free (reduce the likelihood that teens will become smokers by 25% and increase the chance that they will quit if they have already started)
  • higher prices for cigarettes through increases in taxes to them and restrictions on advertising and promotion of tobacco products (it has been shown that they reduce tobacco use among adolescents)

One of the most severe measures is about to be launched in Spain: in the boxes of cigarettes, in addition to the proverbial message about the deadly effects of tobacco, photographs of cancerous lungs and shattered throats for the effect of tobacco abuse. Extreme measures, without a doubt.
 


Video Medicine: Mayo Clinic Minute: Tackling tobacco addiction (March 2024).