Tobacco use: Differences, shared commitment to public health

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 11 - Cigarettes, vapes and other tobacco products are damaging to peoples' health across the globe.
    Smoking is among the leading causes for cancer and premature deaths in the European Union, claiming around 700. 000 lives each year. The EU wants to combat the normalisation of tobacco use and create a smoke-free generation by 2040 but differences in tobacco rules across the bloc remain.
    In early December, a majority of European Union health ministers signalled their support for extending smoke-free areas in a bid to reduce cancer deaths. The recommendation passed with all countries voting in favour apart from Germany and Greece, which abstained, underscoring some political divisions on the issue.
    The aim of the new guidelines is to restrict smoking in public areas where children or other vulnerable people gather outdoors, like playgrounds, amusement parks, public swimming pools, restaurant terraces and public transport.
    The recommendations also target emerging tobacco products, like electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products, to deter young people from smoking. Reducing exposure to second-hand smoke and aerosols would mean better protection for non-smokers, an EU press release said.
    A week prior, the European Parliament voted against a resolution on the same subject, after lawmakers on the right passed amendments to differentiate between traditional tobacco products and electronic devices. The parliamentary resolution would have only had symbolic value.
    The European Commission proposed the overhaul of the current guidelines from 2009 as every year around 700,000 people in the EU lose their lives due to tobacco consumption, the new EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi said ahead of the vote. "It is the largest avoidable health risk in the EU," Várhelyi stressed.
    Tobacco use is estimated to kill more than eight million people globally each year, including about 1.3 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke, World Health Organization (WHO) statistics show.
    According to EU figures, a quarter of cancer deaths in the EU, Iceland and Norway can be attributed to smoking, making tobacco the leading cancer risk. Health policy however is a competence of EU member states, meaning that the new recommendations are non-binding and capitals are free to implement them or not.
    As part of the European "Beat Cancer" plan, the European Commission set out to create a "tobacco-free generation" in which less than 5% of the EU population uses tobacco by 2040. In addition, the EU has allocated significant funding to support Member States in implementing these measures.
    Through the EU4Health programme, a 16 million Euro grant has been awarded to promote anti-smoking policies, while the Horizon programme has allocated 80 million Euro for research into tobacco control and addiction prevention.
    Decline in tobacco use but growing success of e-cigarettes Tobacco consumption in the EU has declined in recent decades, but the pace varies depending on the country.
    According to a recent Eurobarometer survey on Europeans' attitudes towards tobacco and related products, nearly a quarter of the EU's population (24%) smokes - a drop of one percentage point since a 2020 survey - but the proportions vary widely across the countries. Bulgaria (37%), Greece (36%) and Croatia (35%) rank highest while Sweden (8%) and the Netherlands (11%) rank lowest.
    Despite the growing success of e-cigarettes, consumed especially by young people aged 15 to 39, boxed cigarettes remain the most popular choice. Average consumption also remains the same compared to 2020 figures, with 14 cigarettes smoked per day.
    "Given the extensive marketing of vapes as healthier alternatives to conventional smoking, they have gained popularity among people trying to quit smoking," said Josef Hamoud of Germany's University Medical Center Goettingen, lead author of a study on the dual use of vaping and smoking. "There is still a lot we don't know about the long-term health effects of vaping," he explained.
    Fearing young people taking up vaping en masse, some countries have moved to ban e-cigarettes, or at least prohibiting disposable versions or kid-friendly flavours.
    In the Netherlands, in early November a court upheld the government's ban on non-tobacco flavourings for electronic cigarettes on the grounds that they encourage young people to smoke. The court in The Hague ruled against tobacco giant British American Tobacco. The flavour ban has been in force since January 1, 2024.
    Given the mass deaths caused by tobacco, many medical researchers have called for vaping to remain legal as a tool for quitting smoking - while doing everything possible to stop young people from taking up either habit.
    Stark differences across the EU when it comes to combating smoking Data from over 40 countries collected by the Smoke Free Partnership, a European coalition of NGOs fighting for tobacco control, show that in 2022 half of the countries on the European continent had "good" or "very good" measures in place to protect civilians from second-hand smoke, for example through bans on smoking in certain places.
    Some European countries have banned smoking in the vicinity of schools, outside workplaces or in sports stadiums, but Sweden is the only European country to have completely banned smoking on restaurant and bar terraces.
    In Sweden, the number of daily smokers is low which is mostly due to the Swedish tradition of "snus" - a mashed tobacco product that is placed under the lip, considered less dangerous than smoking as it only harms the user. According to the latest figures, 22% of Swedish men and 10% of women are using snus daily.
    Since 2014 tobacco-free snus - with added nicotine - is available and has become extremely popular, especially among young people, as it's often flavoured with anything from lemon to licorice. Not officially a tobacco product, it is not banned by the EU as such even though some national bans exist in this context. (ANSA).