14 DAY TRIAL // The Smoking Control Unit of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), led a study that concluded the anti-tobacco laws in Europe actually have a very strong influence on the reduction of cigarette consumption and passive exposure to smoke.
The study included the 27 countries of the European Union and the results are based on the Eurobarometer survey on tobacco and on the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS) – that takes into account the main measures for smoking control at an international level.
Esteve Fernández Muñoz, co-author of the study and the Head of the Tobacco Control Unit of the ICO told SINC that the reform of the Spanish Law 28/2005 for smoking prevention “is an example of the very important progress in the control of smoking and means the abolition of the 'Spanish model' of supposed tolerance.
“The countries with the highest score in the TCS apply active control policies and the consumption of tobacco and the proportion of the population exposed to smoke, both at home and in the work place, is more reduced,” he added.
Spain obtained high scores at the TCS, but there are a few things that score rather low, and one of them is the low price of tobacco.
Fernández Muñoz said that Spain, “is one of the countries in Europe with the cheapest prices.”
And since “it has been demonstrated that increasing the price of tobacco is the most effective measure for controlling smoking (30 points out of 100 on the TCS scale) as compared with other action, such as, treatment to quit smoking (10 points on the TCS),” it seems that this will be the next step.
Experts said that anti-smoking measures should reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease in the short and medium-term, and also the incidence of cancer – mainly lung cancer, in the long-term.
According to statistics, in Spain, passive exposure to smoke only, leads to between 1,200 and 3,200 deaths per year due to lung cancer and heart attacks.
This new study has confirmed the hypothesis that the higher the restrictions, the lower the consumption and passive exposure to smoke, and countries like Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the UK are the best examples.
They adopt stricter controls on smoking, and their TCS scores speak for themselves: the cigarette consumption is 'relatively low' – 28.8% lower, as is exposure to smoke – 13.8% lower at home and 23.4% lower at work.
At the opposite end are Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece and Luxembourg, where there are fewer control measures and smoking is 'relatively high' – over 30%, as well as the exposure to smoke – between 15% and 30% at home and between 15% and 36% at work.
The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases has announced its intention to release a Request for Applications (RFA) on Implementation Research on Hypertension in Low and Middle Income Countries.
This new study was published in the magazine Plos One.