For 30 years now, World No Smoking Day has been celebrated on the third Thursday of November to draw the attention of the whole population to the consequences of smoking: social, economic and, above all, health.This year, it is celebrated on 16 November.
The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest threats to public health, with more than 8 million people worldwide dying annually from tobacco-related diseases. More than 7 million of these deaths are the result of direct smoking, and around 1.2 million are the result of exposure of non-smokers to second-hand smoke. At the same time, despite the implementation of the rolling excise duty increase plan, cigarette sales are increasing - by as much as nearly 13% in the first six months after the increase was introduced.
- Currently, around 8-9 million Poles actively smoke cigarettes. According to a report by the Polish Academy of Sciences, in 2022, the percentage of smoking adults in Poland will reach as much as 29%.[1] - This is significantly higher than the EU average.
- The situation among adolescents is even more alarming. Around 500 underage boys and girls start smoking every day in Poland. On an annual basis, this gives a figure of 180 000 adolescents under the age of 18 who have fallen into the "clutches" of addiction. It is estimated that minors in Poland smoke about 4 billion cigarettes a year[2]. The age of initiation is significantly decreasing. The proportion of teenagers who use cigarettes or e-cigarettes is increasing.
- In Poland, 200 people die every day as a result of smoking-related diseases ! Smoking or passive exposure to smoke is directly linked to the incidence of 80% cases of lung cancer. Smokers are also much more likely to suffer from respiratory diseases. Cigarettes strongly irritate the epithelium lining the airways, and as many as 90% cases of COPD are caused by smoking.
- Smokers have a 30 times higher risk of dying from lung cancer than non-smokers. The NSC estimated that there were 22 539 cases of lung cancer in Poland in 2020 (13 553 in men and 8 986 in women). It is worth noting that smokers are not only at risk of a number of respiratory cancers.
- Smoking is psychologically and physically addictive. Apart from nicotine, which is a highly addictive substance in cigarettes, the most harmful is tobacco smoke, which contains more than 7,000 compounds, of which around 100 toxic substances that have a direct impact on cancer.
We are currently seeing a change in the way tobacco is consumed. In recent years, new products (electronic cigarettes, liquids, products with synthetic nicotine) that do not produce smoke or tar have become increasingly popular. However, more than 14% e-cigarette users have used e-cigarettes to inhale psychoactive substances other than nicotine (cannabinoids being the most popular).
The situation is all the more worrying as, under Poland's so-called 'Tobacco Act', the Bureau for Chemical Substances supervised by the Ministry of Health does not verify the chemical composition of e-cigarette liquids and registers them solely on the basis of importer/producer notification. Hence, we are seeing a veritable flood of flavoured e-cigarettes including disposable Chinese products.
- There are currently more than 8 000 different types of e-liquid with fruity or sweet flavours (including: chocolate, popcorn, bubble gum, vanilla), which are designed to encourage young people to take up e-cigarettes. The composition of such e-cigarette aerosol that users inhale may contain harmful substances, including: - acetaldehyde, - formaldehyde, - acrolein, - propanal, - nicotine, - acetone, - o-methylbenzaldehyde, - carcinogenic nitrosamines. Officially, however, this is neither tested nor verified!
Unfortunately, despite ongoing prevention efforts, tobacco consumption continues to be one of the biggest public health challenges in Poland. Despite many educational campaigns, smokers underestimate the dangers of smoking, and those who would like to give up smoking have virtually nowhere to turn. Our country lacks anti-smoking clinics financed by the National Health Fund. So far, to our knowledge, there are only three such centres: in Warsaw, Gdansk and Krakow.
With these constraints and unmet societal needs in mind, we have jointly prepared a education campaign "Throw no regrets !"which will run on the social media profiles of our organisations. As part of the campaign on 16 November at 7 p.m. on the FB profile of the Lung Cancer Association O. Szczecin we will hold an educational webinar with Dr. n.med. Piotr Wierzbiński - psychiatrist, addiction specialist 'How to help an oncology patient break the smoking habit'.
16 November motivates We the NGOs concerned about the scale of the cigarette epidemic to issue an APPEAL TO THE FUTURE GOVERNMENT to implement a strategy that would lead to a significant reduction in the availability of cigarettes in Poland.
The key demands for an effective fight against nicotinism for a cigarette-free Poland are as follows :
- Development of a strategy to combat nicotinism with indicators to monitor its implementation
- High taxes on cigarettes and differentiation of taxes for products according to their harmfulness
- Introduction of a marketing authorisation for all novel products based on a rigorous registration procedure and laboratory testing
- Introduce fiscal measures and systemic regulations restricting access to cigarettes, such as: the introduction of a significant levy on the release of traditional cigarettes (currently PLN 0)
- Establishment of a nationwide network of drug counselling centres cooperating with primary care physicians
- Conducting larger-scale campaigns to support quitting, including the development and implementation of educational programmes targeted at young people
- Dissemination of the tobacco control intervention scheme, including the use of harm reduction activities for compulsive smokers on a larger scale
- Raising the age of legal purchase of nicotine products to 21.
- Increase penalties for selling tobacco products to minors.
[1] https://pan.pl/blog/ograniczenie-palenia-wsrod-polakow-rekomendacje-ekspertow/