Respiratory Association Issues Awareness Message on World No Tobacco Day

The Respiratory Society TÜSAD shared important data in a statement released on 9 February, which is observed annually as World No-Tobacco Day. Expert physicians noted that nicotine creates dependence because it reaches the brain in 8 seconds and produces a pleasurable effect initially, and drew attention to the fact that 8 million people worldwide die annually from cigarette smoke. The Turkish Respiratory Research Association (TÜSAD), which has approximately 4,500 physician members working against lung and respiratory diseases, issued warnings regarding cigarette use. In a statement released by TÜSAD's Tobacco Control Working Group on the occasion of 9 February World No-Tobacco Day, the dimensions of the threat were laid out once again. Physicians who are members of TÜSAD's Tobacco Control Working Group noted that cigarettes, the most common form of tobacco consumption, are used by approximately 1.8 billion people aged 15 and over worldwide, that 80 percent of these users are from middle and lower-income countries, and that the age at which people start smoking has dropped to 11.

NICOTINE REACHES THE BRAIN IN 8 SECONDS

The statement noted that burning tobacco and paper smoke contain thousands of chemical substances and compounds, with at least 250 of them being toxic and at least 70 possessing carcinogenic properties, and emphasized the following points: "Cigarettes, which are like a poison bomb, release nicotine when burned. Nicotine reaches the brain in 8 seconds through the lungs and then the circulatory system, and initially creates a pleasurable effect that makes users dependent on it. In the long term, it creates some permanently negative effects on all systems, including the brain it stimulates."

8 MILLION PEOPLE DIE ANNUALLY

The statement, which included information that cigarette smoke has immunosuppressive effects on the immune system and causes permanent damage to human genetic structure, noted that this leads to a series of diseases ranging from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) to heart and vascular diseases, primarily affecting the lungs. While it was stated that 8 million people worldwide die annually from cigarette smoke, the following data were also shared: "8 million people annually means 15 people per minute. In our country, the number of smoking-related deaths is around 80,000 per year. This means 9 people per hour. We must recognize that some of these losses are deaths caused by passive (secondhand) smoke exposure, and we must clearly state that all these losses are great social tragedies."

APPROXIMATELY 4 TIMES THE LOSS OF COVID-19

Physicians who compared certain smoking-related data with current COVID-19 pandemic data demonstrated the gravity of the situation as follows: "The COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged in December 2019 and effectively shifted the entire world's axis, affected all of humanity without exception and went down in history as the calamity of the century. The number of people who died in the pandemic worldwide is approximately 2.3 million; smoking-related deaths are approximately 4 times that. In our country, the number of people who died from the pandemic is around 30,000; smoking-related deaths are approximately 2.5 times that. Meanwhile, according to current health data, the lungs and respiratory tract are the organs most frequently and severely affected by the coronavirus, particularly in the acute phase. When diseases caused by smoking are added to this (such as COPD and cancer), the coronavirus infects smokers more frequently. In those who contract the disease, it also progresses with more severe conditions and higher mortality risk. In the pandemic of this era, the immune system's defensive capacity is crucial. Smoking's negative effects on the immune system explain the increased risk for smokers in this disease. These situations revealed by the pandemic alone make quitting smoking imperative."

DAMAGE TO ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMY

The statement noted that cigarette butts, two-thirds of which are discarded into nature and take a minimum of 10 years to decompose, are among the largest environmental pollutants, and included the following interesting data: "Cigarette butts and packages consumed in our country amount to approximately 49.7 tons annually. Smoking damages our environment as well as our health. Meanwhile, a smoker in our country spends 5.4 percent of their income on so-called 'luxury' cigarette brands that they merely burn and blow into the air. By paying luxury consumption tax, they damage their budget. When we add the costs of disease diagnosis and treatment, loss of labor and production to this, a major economic burden of approximately TRY 42 million annually emerges across the country." The statement, which conveyed that smoking addiction is a treatable clinical condition, also emphasized that new tobacco and nicotine products whose names have recently become known (hookah, electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products) are definitely not cessation aids.