A tobacco-free generation could prevent more than a million deaths by lung canceras indicated in a study led by the University of Santiago de Compostela and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published in the journal Lancet Public Health. The results of this study are based on a hypothetical scenario in which smoking tobacco was prohibitedin a total of 185 countries, to the population born between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010.
The research, led by professors from the USC Preventive Medicine and Public Health area, Julia Rey Brandariz, Mónica Pérez RÃos and Alberto Ruano Raviña, is based on the mortality rates for lung cancer, based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO). The study indicates, therefore, that 1.2 million deaths associated with lung cancer would be avoided worldwide, 40.2% of deaths from this disease in people born between 2006 and 2010, until 2095. In addition, it warns that a greater number of deaths would be avoided in men, 45.8% of the total, than in women, 30.9% of the total.
This is due, as Dr. Julia Rey explains to Efe, to “the prevalence of consumption”since in most countries men start smoking before women. “Men reached a higher prevalence of consumption than women, which a few decades later they started smoking“says the researcher, who recalls that lung cancer “does not occur as an immediate consequence of smoking, but occurs in the long term.”
By region, the highest percentage of deaths is recorded in Western Europe (73.6%) and, in men, more deaths would be avoided in the Central and Eastern Europe region (74.3%); while in the case of women more deaths would be avoided in Western Europe (77.7%). The team highlights that, in Spain, About 21,900 deaths would be avoidedof which, 11,600 correspond to men and 10,300 to women. “This would mean avoiding 71.9% and 73.1% of the expected deaths from lung cancer in men and women, respectively,” they say.
The study focuses only in active tobaccoand does not take into account the deaths that would be avoided by environmental exposure or by electronic cigarette, because, in the latter case, “it is still not very well known “What relationship does it have with lung cancer?” Therefore, although it is not quantified, Rey assures that the number of preventable deaths could increase, since the environmental exposure Tobacco also causes lung cancer.
Banning the sale of tobacco products to people born after a specific year with the goal that they never start using it is known as ‘tobacco-free generation’ and it has been applied or taken into consideration in various countries, although, until now, a global estimate of the impact that such a measure may have throughout the world has never been made.
Regulations
New Zealand was a pioneer in the implementation of this measure, since it prohibited the sale of tobacco products to people born on or after January 1, 2009. However, this regulation was withdrawn after a change of government in the country. On the other hand, In the United Kingdom, a ban is contemplated of the sale of tobacco to people born on or after January 1, 2009, with the goal of being implemented in 2027; and cities such as Brookline, in Massachusetts (United States) or Balanga (Philippines), have adopted similar measures.
According to Rey, this data can be used to influence future changes legislative in our country, where tobacco consumption is the main cause of preventable death in chronic diseases. “It is essential continue strengthening and applying measures of tobacco control that contribute to reducing the impact of tobacco consumption on mortality from lung cancer, as well as more than 20 diseases related to its consumption,” the study concludes.
