Towards a tobacco-free world

World No Tobacco Day – May 31 – once again focuses our attention on the benefits of being a non-smoker.

Recently a study has shown that passive smoking – inhaling smoke from someone else’s cigarette – may not be quite so likely to cause lung cancer or heart disease as we first thought. But whether your smoking is first hand or second hand, there’s no doubt you’ll be better off without it.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), second-hand smoke is a complex mixture of more than 4000 chemical compounds including 43 known cancer-causing substances. Infants and young children exposed to tobacco smoke have more chest infections and asthma, and an increased risk of death from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

The only way to fully protect people from involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke is to ban smoking in locations such as indoor work places, public transport, indoor public places and other public places, as appropriate. This is one of the WHO recommendations to governments in a resolution known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The resolution was endorsed by Commonwealth health ministers meeting in Geneva last weekend and later adopted by the World Health Assembly representing all nations of the world.

Other clauses in this resolution relate to pricing, labelling and advertising of tobacco products – all issues which at least to some degree have already been addressed in Australia.

However, it seems not all countries currently have a similar understanding of the dangers of smoking. WHO estimates that today tobacco-related illnesses cause about five million deaths per year, and this will increase to nearly 10 million deaths per year within the next 20 years And 70% of these deaths are expected to be in the developing world.

In Australia, pretty much everyone knows that smoking kills and causes disease. Perhaps the greatest challenge now is for those people who really want to quite smoking but just can’t manage it.

If you fall into this category, remember there’s no shame in failure to quit. Most people can’t quit the first time around; nicotine is a very addictive chemical.

Try to stay committed to quitting. Think about the benefits of not smoking. You’ll feel the difference almost straightaway. You will taste and smell food better. In fact, you will smell better. You’ll have fewer days of illness and fewer health complaints.

A few months after you stop smoking your heart and lungs will be healthier. After 12 months your risk of heart disease will be halved.

And there are real financial benefits as well – more than $2000 a year if you smoked 20 cigarettes a day.
If cigarette cravings begin, try the 4Ds: Delay – wait five minutes or so. Often the desire to have a cigarette weakens and the resolve to quit returns. Take some deep breaths; drink water, a sip at a time. And do something else – leave the environment you are in, or try exercise to take your mind off smoking.

If you need extra help you can double your chances of staying a non-smoker with nicotine replacement therapy – patches, gum, lozenges or inhaler – your pharmacist can advise you the best product for your needs,for those fact cards – Smoking and Staying a Non-Smoker.