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Quit Smoking or Die? Electronic Cigarettes Adds You with Extra Lives

Scientific research and medical practitioners point out that electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco, as improved risk products, can help smokers get rid of traditional cigarettes.

Dr. David khayat, former director of the National Cancer Institute of France and head of medical oncology at Clinique Bizet in Paris

For decades, the world has understood the risks of smoking. Quitting smoking is very important to maintain good health, but not everyone can get rid of this habit. Traditional cigarettes contain more than 6000 chemicals and ultrafine particles, of which 93 are classified as potentially harmful substances by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Most (about 80) of the listed substances are or may cause cancer, and the final results remain the same – smoking is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and various cancers.

However, although empirical data reveal the risk of smoking, more than 60% of people diagnosed with cancer continue to smoke.

However, more and more efforts of the scientific community are focused on reducing hazards through alternative solutions (such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco). The overall goal is to minimize the damage people suffer from choosing unhealthy lifestyles, without limiting or affecting their right to make personal choices.

The concept of hazard reduction refers to plans and practices aimed at minimizing the health and social impacts associated with the use of harmful products such as cigarettes. Scientific research and medical practitioners point out that electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco, as improved risk products, can help smokers get rid of traditional cigarettes.

However, with the progress of heating tobacco and electronic cigarette technology, there is a serious gap between those who advocate using less harmful products as a practical and realistic method and those who believe that anti smoking campaigns can prevent and quit smoking. Taxes are the only way to stop using harmful products.

Dr. David khayat is the former director of the National Cancer Institute of France and the head of medical oncology at Clinique Bizet in Paris. He is one of the most respected and powerful voices. He opposes some absolute and invalid mandatory slogans, such as “quit smoking or die”.

“As a doctor, I cannot accept stopping or dying as the only option for smoking patients.” Dr. kayat previously explained that at the same time, he stressed that the scientific community should “play a greater role in persuading policy makers around the world to reconsider their tobacco control strategies and be more innovative, including recognizing that some bad behaviors of people are inevitable, but restricting their freedom and warning the consequences of their behaviors” is not a feasible way to reduce health risks.

While attending the Global Forum on nicotine in Warsaw, Poland, Dr. kayat discussed these themes and his vision for the future with the new Europe.

New Europe (NE): I want to answer my question from a personal point of view. My stepfather died of throat cancer in 1992. He is a heavy smoker. An officer and World War II veteran. He has been away for a long time, but scientific research and medical information (about the health risks of smoking) are available to him. He was initially diagnosed in 1990, but continued to smoke for some time, regardless of his cancer diagnosis and multiple treatments.

Dr. David khayat (Denmark): let me tell you that a recent large study shows that 64% of people diagnosed with cancer, such as smokers diagnosed with lung cancer, will continue to smoke until the end. So it’s not just people like your stepfather, it’s almost everyone. So why? Smoking is an addiction. This is a disease. You can’t just think of it as a pleasure, a habit or an act.

This addiction, in the 2020′s, is like depression 20 years ago: please, don’t be sad. Go out and play; It feels better to meet people. No, it’s a disease. If you have depression, you need treatment for depression. In this case (about nicotine), it is an addiction that needs treatment. It looks like the cheapest drug in the world, but it’s an addiction.

Now, if we talk about the rise in the cost of cigarettes, I was the first person to raise the cost of cigarettes when I became an adviser to jacqueschirac.

In 2002, one of my tasks was to fight against smoking. In 2003, 2004 and 2005, I raised the price of tobacco cigarettes from 3 euros to 4 euros in France for the first time; From € 4 to € 5 in less than two years. We lost 1.8 million smokers. Philip Morris has reduced the number of cigarette sets from 80billion to 55billion per year. So I did the real work. However, two years later, I found that 1.8 million people started smoking again.

It has recently been shown that, interestingly, after covid, the price of a pack of cigarettes in France exceeded 10 euros, making it one of the most expensive countries in Europe. This policy (high pricing) did not work.

To me, it is totally unacceptable that these smokers are the poorest people in the society; A person who is unemployed and lives on state social welfare. They continued to smoke. They will pay 10 euros and cut back the money they could have used to pay for food. They ate less. The poorest people in the country are already at the highest risk of obesity, diabetes and cancer. The policy of raising cigarette prices has made the poorest people poorer. They continue to smoke and smoke more.

Our smoking rate has decreased by 1.4% in the past two years, only from those with disposable income or rich people. This means that the public policy I initially initiated to control the prevalence of smoking by raising the cost of cigarettes has failed.

However, 95% of cases are what we call sporadic cancer. There is no known genetic link. In the case of hereditary cancer, it is the gene itself that will bring you cancer, but the gene is very weak. Therefore, if you are exposed to carcinogens, you are likely to face a higher risk due to your weak genes.