One Billion People in the World Smoke – Can Alternatives to Classic Cigarettes Help Fight Tobacco Smoke?

Despite the campaign against smoking which has lasted for several decades now, there are around one billion smokers in the world, as said at the panel on reducing the harmful effects of smoking within the international conference “Re-Examining the Facts About Harmful Habits for Health Resilience”, which was held in Sofia on May 30.

At the conference, which was organized by the company Arbilis – an organizer of science conferences from Bulgaria – ahead of the World No-Tobacco Day, May 31, with the topic of reducing the harmfulness of bad habits, scientists repeated that countries should strive for a living environment without tobacco smoke.

Still, people who are “hardcore” smokers are very difficult to convince that they should stop, said professor Reuven Zimlichman, the chief of the Departments of Medicine and the head of the Hypertension Institute at the E. Wolfson Medical Center, Israel, and the director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University.

According to the data he presented, nearly 50% smokers who have had a heart-attack and 57% of those who have had a stroke continue to smoke.

– As doctors, we have not succeeded in our efforts to suppress smoking, considering that the number of smokers on the global level remains unchanged. One billion smokers is a testament to our lack of success and it is now clear that we should find another solution – said professor Zimlichman.

He added that various smokeless alternatives, with less damage done to the health, such as snus, (nicotine bags that are placed between the upper lip and gum), e-cigarettes and products which heat tobacco and which reduce harmful matters by 95% because tobacco is heated, and not combusted, were already available.

– Do you realize how many lives of those billion smokers we can save? – the professor asked.

He cited Sweden as an example in which, thanks to snus, the smoking rate is at a record-low – around 5%.

– How many deaths have been avoided in Sweden and how many more lives could be saved if the ban on snus in Europe were lifted? – added professor Zimlichman.

Professor Borislav Georgiev, the head of Cardiology Clinic at the National Cardiology Hospital in Sofia, said that, following a difficult operation, patients woke up and asked for a cigarette.

– Heavy smokers have “stopped” smoking 50 times, so we are now trying to find an alternative and a modern approach to quitting smoking and an environment without smoke – he added.

– The principle of reducing the harmfulness should be applied to all addictions. Reducing the harmful effects of smoking is defined as minimizing the damage and the total mortality and morbidity without fulling eliminating the use of tobacco and nicotine – explained professor Hristo Kozhurahov, the chief of the Second Psychiatric Clinic in Varna and the president of the Bulgarian Association of Psychiatrists.

Dr. Rada Prokopova, cardiologist, the chief of the Cardiology Department at St. Anna Hospital in Sofia, presented the data that smoking kills a half of smokers each year, along with another 600,000 people who are exposed to passive smoking each year. She also said that cigarette smoke caused 40% of heart diseases, increased cholesterol by 24% and raised artery pressure by 31%.

– Smoking is a global cause of death, which can be prevented. The first step is for smokers to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked each day, if they can’t do that, they should switch to a smokeless alternative which eliminates passive smoking. That way, they will help themselves and those close to them – concluded Dr. Prokopova.

f Cardiology Clinic at the National Cardiology Hospital in Sofia

St Anna Hospital in Sofia

Sackler Faculty of Medicine Tel Aviv

E Wolfson Medical Center Israel

National Cardiology Hospital in Sofia

Bulgarian Association of Psychiatrists

Rada Prokopova

Hristo Kozhuharov

Reuven Zimlichman

Borislav Georgiev

international conference Re Examining the Facts About Harmful Habits for Health Resilience

World No Tobacco Day May 31

smoking

quitting smoking

smoking risks

alternatives to cigarettes

snus

ecigarettes

tobacco heating products