This Friday, May 31, is World Tobacco Prevention Day, which kills nearly six million people worldwide each year, 75,000 in France alone. Tobacco among young people is also a reality, says the WHO, it affects 37 million children worldwide, between 13 and 15 years old. And more and more, electronic cigarettes are gaining ground over traditional cigarettes.
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Increasingly among young people, the electronic cigarette wins on the classic cigarette. The problem is that it is sold more as candy than as a product harmful to health.
The WHO conducted a survey of 15-year-old adolescents in Europe. Verdict: 20% of them say they have vaped at least once in the last month. Globally, there are now more minors than adults using electronic cigarettes. This is no surprise for Dr Ruediger Krech, reports our correspondent in Geneva, Jeremy Lanche.
The manager of the tobacco control at the WHO denounces the scandalous strategies of tobacco companies to attract children: “ Manufacturers give free samples to children at sporting events and concerts. They pay influencers. They do product placement on streaming services. They have partnerships with meal delivery services so you can receive your electronic cigarettes directly to your home. There are more than 16,000 flavors on the market, such as bubble gum, vanilla ice cream, cookies, etc. These flavors are intended for children. We ask governments to ban them », denounces the doctor.
The electronic cigarette, but also the pouches, the snus… All these products based on tobacco or nicotine are often sold in brightly colored packaging that is more reminiscent of a soda or a bag of candy.
The problem is that vaping doesn’t always help you quit smoking. In any case, this is not the majority of cases according to the WHO. For non-smokers, the use of electronic cigarettes would even triple the risk of smoking conventional cigarettes.
The French unequal in the face of tobacco
Twelve million daily smokers in France according to data from Public Health France based on a 2022 study: the figure hardly changes. What also does not change is that almost 60% of daily smokers would like to break this habit.
The portrait of the French smoker – in very broad strokes -, drawn up by the body barometer health on the occasion of this World No Tobacco Day, it is a man, whose diploma is rather less than or equal to the baccalaureate, and whose income is among the lowest. The unemployed smoke more than employed people or students.
However, among women aged 18-75, daily smoking increased between 2019 and 2021, going from 20.7% to 23%, specifies Santé Publique France. “ The increase in smoking among women and among the least educated could be linked in part to a stronger impact of the COVID-19 crisis among these populations, with the use of cigarettes as a stress management tool, in particular linked to an increase in mental workload and a deterioration of working conditions among women “, he explains.
It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region and in Occitanie that people smoke the most. In Ile-de-France and Center-Val de Loire, consumption is decreasing for men and women. Differences which could be cultural and linked to the image of tobacco, or due to socio-economic reasons, for example linked to the possibility of buying tobacco cheaper in a neighboring country. We smoke the least in Guyana, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
Knowing where to find smokers and how to target them to help them quit is essential. According to the Social Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies, the social cost of tobacco is 156 billion euros per year.
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