"We do not persecute smokers, they exalt their freedom. What is free about a nicotine addict?"

• Tobacco Denmark seeks total ban on tobacco sales to those born after 2010

• Reform of the Health Law wants to ban smoking in cars and put an end to electronic cigarettes

Smoking is the main cause of preventable death in the world, being a known risk factor and origin of cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, among many others.

not only due to direct causes, 1.2 million of these deaths are due to exposure to smoke, which is known by experts as

Alarming data that make this issue a priority issue for authorities and expert committees.

Measures "that are already taking time" because

, said

president of the National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking (CNPT).

Zamorano puts on the table those points that are essential for the

.

Increase in the price of tobacco and the taxation of new nicotine delivery devices, establish smoke-free spaces, neutral packaging;

regulation of advertising and social networks;

and the importance of

What does the Comprehensive Smoking Prevention and Control Plan consist of?

This Plan is not only about smoke-free terraces, beaches and stadiums, nor about prohibiting smoking in cars with minors or pregnant women.

The Plan must be conceived as

because it is the most serious public health problem in Spain and

There are many ministries involved, not only Health, but also Agriculture, Ecological Transition, Social Rights and Agenda 2030 or Finance.

An initiative that was signed as 2021-2025, but since practically nothing was done last year, now it is 2022-2025. What is expected from the Ministry of Health? That this should not remain a proposal of good intentions, but rather, that there is a development and a commitment in financing and deadlines, in addition to an adequate

, by which the Government promised to approve in the current legislature.

The CNPT speaks that there should be a

establish an interministerial and multisectoral articulation, in order to ensure the coordination, sustainability and effectiveness of this plan and that it be conceived as a State strategy, as the largest public health problem in our country as it is the first cause of death preventable premature.

This plan should not be presented by the Ministry of Health, which too, but presented by the presidency of the government.

If you had to choose just one... What is the star measure? It is clear that

to reduce consumption.

If there was only one measure to be taken, this would be it.

The figures speak, at a higher price, fewer deaths.

Studies show that a 10% rise in price reduces demand by 5%.

But the CNPT goes further.

For this to work, a drastic increase of 20% must be made, because in the end people get used to it.

A smoker who usually pays a price at the tobacconist

at a bar machine, in the end they make this difference, but if the increase amounts to €10 per pack, as happens in countries like in France, there they do consider it. How should smokers be treated?

As a plague sufferer or as a sick person/addict? Never as a plague sufferer.

At CNPT we follow the recommendations of the

(WHO) and the MPOWER strategy, each letter has a meaning, and in this case, the "O" is for

, so services must be offered to treat and help him.

We never go against smokers, that's a mistake.

We are not going after smokers,

Regarding smokers and addicts, Denmark is considering banning the purchase of tobacco to those born after 2010 to create smoke-free generations. Do you think that banning its purchase will make young people not try it?

Would the establishment of this measure in Spain be feasible? The idea is that not everyone who reaches the age of 18 can buy tobacco, but that there comes a time when even if you are 25 or 30 years old you cannot buy and thus create generations free of nicotine.

Gradually raising the legal age at which tobacco and related products can be purchased is very useful.

The figures for young smokers are alarming, and even more so when innovative and attractive products are born for this group.

This ladder ban is a first step in moving towards the

or end of the game in tobacco use, down to a prevalence of 5% compared to almost 30% today.

Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking 2022-2025

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The Comprehensive Smoking Prevention and Control Plan 2022-2025 consists of four axes:

With these four axes, it tries to prevent the start of consumption, in addition to promoting smoking cessation and helping the user to quit smoking.

From an environmental point of view, it aims to

addition to promoting applied research and monitoring of smoking.

To achieve these objectives, the CNPT urges

based on two issues: the expansion of smoke-free spaces and facing the new challenges posed by new tobacco and related products.

Is there a safe way to use tobacco?

What is this about rolling tobacco containing less harmful substances or the electronic cigarette labeled "nicotine free"?

Is it true or a hoax? The tobacco industry is continually modifying its product as a strategy.

These new products, like electronic cigarettes now, also go hand in hand with hoaxes that they are less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

It suits them, on the one hand they sell you the paper, the machine, the nozzles, so they earn more there.

In recent years the tobacco industry has expanded and reoriented its business with the promotion of heated tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

These

through social media and

to reach this type of public. So, what about those that are "without nicotine"?

Is it possible to quit smoking thanks to the new electronic devices? Nothing is certain,

there is a variety of ways to do it, but all of them contain substances that are harmful to health, and are to blame for many more diseases beyond lung cancer, which many think is one of the few concerns of a smoker.

The tobacco industry is still part of the problem of the tobacco epidemic so there is no chance that they will be part of the solution.

The evidence shows that the control of this epidemic will not be based on the new products of the tobacco companies, but on increases in taxation, neutral packaging, regulation of the promotion and advertising of the product and the increase of smoke-free spaces, as stated the

(where the most relevant points of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are highlighted).

What about electronic cigarettes?

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The goal has always been to keep consumers addicted to nicotine,

of customers to perpetuate its business, explains the CNPT in its report

"Among the strategies used systematically were and continue to be found:

• The promotion and publicity, direct or indirect, aimed fundamentally at the child-juvenile population;

• The obstruction of the various regulations that governments propose

• Scientific manipulation, in order to sow doubt and thus buy time and achieve the previous objective".

Thus, for example, claims that

the report maintains.

Such statements were the result of a non-open meeting, financed by the tobacco industry, "in which a series of people, self-proclaimed experts, (a part of them were), published a work without review and with weak arguments so that other media or institutions could be echoed", adds the CNPT in the document.

Zamorano, on behalf of the CNPT, reiterates the importance of

both in promotion, advertising and sponsorship.

Since "there is no logic that cigarettes come in plain packaging and electronic cigarettes come with a wide range of colors and flavors, trying to make their consumption generally appealing to young people," says the president of the Committee.

Neutral packaging was born with the same intention.

"It consists of equal packaging, in one color, for all brands, thus making it less attractive and

that is, those that, due to publicity or fame, have certain characteristics in society, he adds.

Prohibiting smoking on terraces is a measure born from Covid that seems to be here to stay.

Will it be effective in reducing consumption? It is a measure that should stay, of course.

The seven Autonomous Communities in which smoking was prohibited during Covid have continued to have full terraces,

It is no longer just that eating next to a table of smokers is uncomfortable, but that secondhand smoke causes deaths.

Of the eight million deaths in the world due to tobacco, 1.2 million correspond to second-hand smoke and even third-hand smoke.

When you ask patients one of the reasons why they want to quit smoking, they tell you that "you can't smoke anywhere anymore."

What this does is favor

in addition to denormalizing its use.

There are many advantages, in addition to establishing a 'security perimeter'. What is third-hand smoke? It is the residual smoke of tobacco,

The smell that remains impregnated in your clothes after returning from being with smokers or from a nightclub.

This residual smoke is also full of toxic and carcinogenic substances.

Taking the example to the extreme, a couple of smokers who have a baby, if they do not want their child to be harmed by tobacco, apart from not smoking in front of him,

And we no longer talk about whether they smoke in the house.

This is increased.

The curtains, the walls, the carpets, on all surfaces.

There is also the fourth hand that refers to the environmental impact, that is, the cigarette butt. What is this 'security perimeter'? We do not only focus on terraces, beaches or sports venues, we go further, 'security perimeters', that you can't smoke in hospitals is very good, but the same thing should happen in schools, for example.

We want to extend the

in schools, for example.

You can't smoke in schools, but there is a litter bin on both sides of the entrance where people throw their butts, where the children see how they smoke, where there are butts and many of them have not been put out.

In addition, there is also the proposal for a

, already in force in other places, and it is important.

The CNPT is aware of the complication of legislating such things, but we agree with prohibiting smoking in places where there is a gathering of people.

Another restriction will be to prohibit smoking inside the car.

What will this be?

Complete ban, or only in the presence of minors and pregnant women? Yes, that is what it says in the bill, that smoking will not be allowed in the car in the presence of minors or pregnant women, and probably what is going to be brought out in the law.

The CNPT goes further.

Drivers should not smoke, but that must be legislated by the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT).

From the point of view of road safety,

And then the butt, which can end up igniting any bush.

From the point of view of secondhand smoke,

, so anyone who gets into our car will be harmed.

They talk about children and pregnant women because they are very vulnerable, but not about the grandfather or anyone with a disease, who would also belong to this group.

You don't have to be a child or a pregnant woman to be vulnerable.

Even if the smoker goes alone in the car, then when you go to pick up the child from school, many of the toxic particles are still there.

The child through the skin through the hand-mouth ends up suffering the toxicity of what the father has smoked before.

As a specialist, what do you think is the first impulse that leads a person to quit smoking? Bearing in mind that even

I'm talking about real cases, it's the first question we ask when they come to our consultation and the first reason that appears is

.

People come because they want to breathe better or because they fear cancer.

The second is

, the economic issue.

When the patient calculates that at least €150 per month is allocated to this vice, and that

many things arise.

Then there are those who tell you

which we translate as that I've been lucky enough to free myself from the consequences of tobacco, and I don't want to continue playing it.

Quitting smoking does not recover what has been lost, but you will not have more loss and it is important to transmit that. But, what is the process? The person who wants to quit smoking goes to their Health Center, in supposedly, each professional must have an agenda with time to be able to offer help to smoking patients.

In my case, I do

at least, to be able to discuss with the patient issues such as why he smokes, why he wants to quit smoking, what are the risk situations for him to smoke, etc.

Pharmacological treatments must also be offered to facilitate the process, such as

(TSN), such as patches, gum or oral tablets, as well as other drugs that help reduce cravings due to the absence of nicotine.

In addictions it is very easy to have relapses, that is why

In Spain there are 10 million people who have quit tobacco and there are also some 10 million smokers, -he jokes- These measures aim to create a smoke-free society, but what about the people who live thanks to the production, distribution and sale of tobacco? The Plan treats that as

people have to make a living in another way.

Yes, we are talking about two thousand jobs, but those two thousand jobs are working with a product that kills people and we have to find alternatives to these issues.

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