Teenagers in Europe, Central Asia, and Canada are using more alcohol and nicotine, according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) research. The study also saw a change in gender patterns, with girls now either equal or exceeding males by the age of 15 in terms of drinking, smoking, and vaping. Considering that guys have historically smoked and consumed more alcohol than girls, this shift is remarkable.
Specifically, the survey states that 20% of 15-year-olds have vaped in the last 30 days, and 32% of them have tried vapes. Adolescents should be shielded from the impacts of hazardous items since the brain continues to grow until the mid-20s, according to Dr. Hans Kluge, Regional Director of the World Health Organization for Europe. This poses a major threat to public health.
Not to be forgotten: there is a correlation between the rise in vaping and the decline in smoking.
While just 25% of 15-year-olds have ever smoked a regular cigarette, and 15% have in the last month, the research itself emphasizes that the spike in e-cigarette usage has surpassed smoking. This latter conclusion should be viewed positively, since studies have repeatedly shown that vapes are substantially safer than traditional cigarettes. Teenagers are predisposed to experiment with drugs like nicotine, according to research, and those who vape now would be smoking if there were no vaping goods available.
The WHO, on the other side, voiced concerns about the normalization and focused marketing of vapes via multimedia channels, including kid-friendly video games and television shows. Dr. Kluge made the observation that youngsters are often exposed to dangerous product promotion on the internet, which normalizes their usage.
Adolescent-focused social media vape marketing requires immediate attention.
Experts in tobacco damage reduction from all across the globe naturally agree that this is a significant issue that requires attention. An equitable strategy may be placing graphical advertisements in vape shops to encourage smokers who are interested in utilizing these devices to stop smoking to use them, all the while imposing stringent regulations on marketing and advertising that portray vapes as lifestyle items.
The WHO advocates for a complete ban on advertising on social media and conventional media platforms in order to solve this problem. While the agency suggests that Europe and other nations enact stringent measures including price increases, limiting product availability or sales locations, enforcing the minimum legal purchase age, and outlawing all flavors in nicotine products in order to combat the rise in teenage vaping.
Experts in the sector counter that any actions that make the goods harder to get or unavailable would be harmful to smokers who are utilizing them as tools for quitting. Accordingly, there is increasing pressure on EU health ministers to implement science-based tobacco harm reduction plans, with the World Vapers' Alliance (WVA) spearheading the push for action.
The EU has to put its words into action.
The Beating Cancer Plan acknowledges that vaping can help smokers quit. Politicians must act on this knowledge.
Michael Landl, Director, World Vapers Alliance
The European "Beating Cancer Plan" is a top priority during the two-day EPSCO conference in Brussels, where health ministers are gathering, and this effort coincides with delays in tobacco regulation. Michael Landl, the director of WVA, has harshly criticized the EU Commission's apparent disregard for scientific evidence in the present tobacco policy. He makes the point that less dangerous nicotine substitutes, including vaping and nicotine pouches, have been shown to be successful in aiding smokers in quitting.
Landl emphasizes that EU health ministers have a critical chance to adopt reasonable laws that might save smoking-related fatalities from occurring up to 700,000 times annually. He said, "The Beating Cancer Plan recognizes that vaping can assist smokers in quitting." "Political leaders need to use this information."
The EPSCO conference, according to the WVA director, may mark a sea change in how the EU approaches tobacco harm reduction. He restates that health ministers should take a cue from Sweden, which is poised to become the first smoke-free nation in history, mostly as a result of its support for the use of safer nicotine substitutes. To ensure a future free from smoking, the EU might and ought to enact such laws.
A petition called "Every Life Counts," which has garnered the signatures of over 35,000 people, backs the WVA's call to action by urging the EU to include harm reduction concepts into its tobacco policy. There is still time for interested persons to sign this petition. The WVA is urging the EU Commission as well as health ministers to consider consumer advocacy and scientific evidence when deciding on laws that have the potential to save thousands of lives.
