The fight against smoking in Latin America improves, but the electronic cigarette jeopardizes the achievements

Some 900 million people in 35 countries in the Americas, 96% of the population, have at least one of the six tobacco control measures recommended by the World Health Organization, 50% more than those registered in 2007 , recently reported by the Pan American Health Organization.

The Tobacco Control Report for the Americas Region 2022 indicates that 26 of the 35 countries in the region have reached the maximum level of implementation of at least one of those orders, but in others, such as the increase in tobacco taxes , have made slow progress, with nine countries still taking no action.

Progress in the application of the six standards, known as MPOWER and established by the World Health Organization in 2008, contributed to reducing the number of consumers, who went from representing 28% of the population of the region in 2000 to 16 .3% in 2020, the second lowest figure in the world at that level. The six MPOWER standards are: monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies; protect the population from tobacco smoke; offer help to quit tobacco; warn of the dangers of tobacco; enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship; increase taxes on tobacco.

To this achievement of the decrease from 28% to 16.3%, it should be added that South America became in 2020 the first subregion of the American continent where smoking is absolutely prohibited in closed public places, at work and on public transport .

The agency recalls that tobacco use is the main risk factor in six of the eight leading causes of death in the world, as well as for the four most preventable and prevalent non-communicable diseases: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory conditions. .

The director of the Organization’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health stated that “tobacco causes almost a million deaths annually in the region and is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half of those who consume it.”

Anselm Hennis stressed that “in the face of this enormous threat, the response must be equally aggressive. The control measures work and we must advance more quickly in the application of all of them”.

Electronic cigarettes, the new threat on the horizon

The study also warns about the high availability and accessibility of new products that may contain nicotine, such as electronic cigarettes, and warns about misleading claims used by the tobacco industry to win over consumers and enter new markets.

Electronic cigarette. (Photo: WHO)

The agency recommends that governments establish regulations that prevent non-smokers from starting to use these products, prevent tobacco use from becoming normalized in society, and protect future generations.

Seven countries in the Americas prohibit the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems. Five of those nations and thirteen others have taken partial steps to ban their use, limit their advertising, promotion and sponsorship, or require warnings on their packaging. On the contrary, fifteen do not impose any kind of regulatory framework.

Study Findings

The study found that during the past year out of 35 countries in the Americas:

24 apply measures to protect against exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

22 use large graphic warnings about the dangers of smoking on packages of tobacco products.

10 have surveillance systems with periodic, representative and recent data on tobacco consumption, both in adults and in young people.

6 offer comprehensive help to quit smoking.

9 establish total prohibitions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco.

3 apply indirect taxes to cigarettes that represent 75% or more of their retail price.

The regional average of tobacco consumption is 21.3% in men and 11.3% in women, compared to the global average of 36.7% in men and 7.8% in women.

Of the 35 member states of the Organization, Brazil reported the lowest prevalence (6.9%), while Dominica reported the highest (25.3%).

Among the 26 countries in the Region with information on electronic cigarettes, the United States currently has the highest prevalence of consumption of this type of cigarette at the regional level in the young population (19.6%); and Brazil, the lowest (0.2%).

Only 6 Member States (Brazil, Canada, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States) have made free national smoking cessation lines, accessible nicotine replacement therapy and support services available to the population to quit smoking. tobacco.

Only 3 countries are implementing measures to ensure that total indirect taxes represent 75% or more of the retail price of tobacco products. (Font: UN News)