Together – Many countries around the world have recorded significant reductions in the number of smokers. In Finland, the percentage of smokers has been on a downward trend, with only 11% of adults between the ages of 20 and 64 still smoking daily, with ongoing attempts and initiatives to reduce this percentage. As for Sweden, it is almost smoke-free within a year. However, in other parts of the world, the project to reduce the number of smokers remains a distant dream.
Anyone who looks closely at the contradictory results of attempts to reduce the number of smokers from one country to another will find that the secret lies in the contradictory view of the medical and health community regarding nicotine alternatives.
In search of answers to many questions, a number of doctors and public health experts, headed by Kari Vinho, a pulmonologist in the Central Finland Welfare Region, Kirsi Timonen, an assistant professor and clinical physiologist in the Central Finland Welfare Region, and Maria Huttunen, a dermat
ologist in the Central Finland Health Services Region, confirm that adopting nicotine substitutes and smoke-free alternative products is not a primary goal of their creation; they are an entry point to achieving the ultimate goal of quitting, which remains the best option ever, and remains an effective factor in saving more lives from the risk of premature death due to traditional tobacco smoking. In other words, switching to these alternatives, which may not be completely risk-free, remains less burdensome than continuing to smoke traditionally, which ultimately leads to death due to its negative health consequences.
The three doctors pointed out that smoking traditional tobacco causes many diseases, the most prominent of which is lung cancer, which many years of clinical experience have not succeeded in eliminating. Worse still, the consequences of traditional smoking extend to include patients feeling guilty about themselves due to their tobacco consumption, which the doctors explained that they see durin
g their daily follow-up of many medical cases.
The three doctors, who are public health experts, say that the number of smokers around the world is still alarming, which is not satisfactory to the conscious medical and health community. When discussing the reasons for the decline in the number of smokers in Finland and Sweden, the doctors believe that adopting a risk reduction strategy was the main factor in the results achieved in the two countries with regard to tobacco control.
In Finland, where smokers who were trying to quit smoking were still craving nicotine, doctors were open to a risk reduction strategy: giving patients nicotine, which has been shown not to be the main cause of smoking-related diseases, although it can be addictive and is not without risks, while avoiding – as much as possible – exposure to the chemicals contained in traditional cigarettes, and those resulting from their combustion, which lead to psychological and physiological addictive effects that create a barrier and deterrent
to quitting smoking, and which are primarily responsible for most of the harms and diseases associated with smoking.
As for Sweden, it dealt with smoking and the addiction that nicotine can cause with a methodology that put the responsibility of its government on supporting smokers to save their lives and giving them the opportunity to embark on their journey against smoking in a different way than what is prevalent. It provided them with alternatives that may be better than tobacco, such as chewing tobacco products, modern nicotine pouches, electronic cigarettes, and heated tobacco products that have been scientifically proven to be less dangerous than traditional combustion cigarettes because they produce 95% fewer harmful chemicals, and allowed them to be traded at reasonable prices.
In a related context, according to the three doctors, Public Health England has allowed the sale and use of heated tobacco products in almost all EU countries, including Sweden and Estonia, which is important for Finnish tra
velers who can carry these products with them without facing legal issues related to them. The British Public Health Authority is making heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes available to about a million smokers, as part of its plan to prioritize trying alternatives that may be better, over limiting smokers to the two options of quitting immediately or risking death.
Finland is expected to reach its goal of becoming a smoke-free country, with around 300,000 people quitting smoking cigarettes but continuing to consume nicotine in other forms, such as from pharmacies, shops or elsewhere. Finnish customs data suggests that legalizing nicotine pouches has reduced smuggling and illegal trade of these products, but high taxes on nicotine pouches may encourage smuggling, which explains why smoking rates in Sweden are lower than in Finland.
The three doctors conclude that the doctor’s duty requires him in many cases to choose between the dangerous and the less dangerous for the patient’s best interest, which mea
ns in the struggle against smoking, the necessity of transferring patients who want to quit to non-combustible nicotine as an option that may be better than consuming tobacco from traditional cigarettes.
Source: Maan News Agency
