The Netherlands: Health groups: We need a “smoke free” generation; 1 in 3 can’t quit cigarettes - by Janene Pieters

Three health organizations have joined forces and launched a campaign for a “smoke free generation”. The campaign aims to have children grow up in a smoke-free environment and without the temptation to start smoking.

 Figures released by Statistics Netherlands on Friday shows that one in three smokers recently tried to quit smoking and failed. Young smokers and female smokers have a particularly hard time quitting.


The three health organizations that initiated this campaign are the Hartstichting (Heart Foundation), KWF Kankerbestrijding (the Dutch Cancer Society) and Longfonds. (Lung Fund), the Hartstichting announced recently

According to the organizations, 20 thousand people in the Netherlands die every year due to smoking and second hand smoke – more than the number of deaths caused by alcohol, drugs, crime and traffic combined. And yet about 100 kids start smoking in the Netherlands every day.

The organizations have therefore decided to intervene. They will promote various large and small initiatives that work towards a smoke-free environment for children. This includes smoke-free school yards and sports associations, among others. They also want to provide better information and support for young parents.

The organizations will help health centers to advise young and new parents on how they can raise their children smoke-free and assist them in this. As the child grows older, schools and sports clubs can help the parents provide a smoke-free environment for their kids.

“Parents with children should have the opportunity to let their child grow up completely smoke-free. Parents who choose to do so should be able to prevent their children continuously being confronted with the bad example of smoking people and without the temptation of shiny packets and added flavors to cigarettes.” the Hartstichting writes.

Read more: Health groups: We need a “smoke free” generation; 1 in 3 can’t quit cigarettes - NL Times

Smoking: Licence to die?

Smoking kills up to half of its users. This is the grim reality that slaps you in the face when you read the tobacco fact sheet of the World Heath Organization (WHO). A staggering amount of scientific evidence accumulated over the past 50 years shows that smoking causes several types of cancer, cardio-vascular and respiratory diseases. Nevertheless, smoking kills over 5 million people every year and the death toll continues to rise, especially in low and middle-income countries.

To tackle this global tobacco epidemic, the WHO established the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005. More than 170 countries have joined this treaty and agreed to put into practice a set of public health policies to protect people from second-hand smoking, to combat tobacco illegal trade and to encourage smokers to quit.

Brazil is one of the pioneer countries in implementing such policies for tobacco control. In 1990, Brazil introduced the first rises in cigarette taxes, which doubled cigarette prices in just ten years. This and other subsequent anti-smoking policies such as smoking bans on public spaces and tobacco marketing restrictions for instance, led to a remarkable drop in smoking rates from 35% in 1989 to nearly half in 2008. But it wasn't known which policies were responsible for this steep decline in the number of smokers.

In a new study published in PLoS Medicine, David Levy from Georgetown University used a computational model to answer this question. Levy found that as much as half of the reduction in smoking rates was due to cigarette price increases alone, while smoking bans and marketing controls each accounted for a 14% drop, and other policies contributed slightly less. The raw numbers are even more impressive: the model estimates that anti-smoking policies saved over 400 thousand lives over the past 20 years in Brazil, and the prediction is that by 2050 almost 7 million more lives will be saved.

Brazil's success story tells us that anti-smoking measures can work even in low to middle-income countries, where smoking is more prevalent. However, Levy's model estimates that an additional 1.3 million deaths could be prevented by 2050 if stricter policies were introduced. So are tougher anti-smoking policies needed to eradicate smoking all together? The answer might be found on the other side of the globe.

Read more: Licence to die?

MaxHealth: Smoking Among Russian Men Worst In Europe

For the complete report in MaxHealth click on this link

Smoking Among Russian Men Worst In Europe

In the Russian Federation, 64.9% of men smoke daily, a level that is by far the highest in the WHO European Region, where on average 40% of men smoke daily.

Although smoking levels among Russian women are much lower (21.6% smoke daily), this figure is the highest among women in the newly independent states (NIS). The NIS comprise Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.