OTS - Expert for addiction studies, Prof. Dr. Heino Stöver, criticizes the new EU Beating Cancer Plan: "Target of less than 5 percent of smokers in the EU not achievable without harm reduction approach".
2021. February 03. 15:46
Frankfurt/Main, 3 February, 2021 (APA/OTS) - Prof. Dr. Heino Stöver
has sharply criticized the EU Commission's "Beating Cancer Plan"
presented today: "For years, the always same methods have been used
trying to attain the ambitious goals of an almost tobacco-free
continent. Tax increases, advertising bans and no-smoking zones are
too biased as measures are still not successful in stopping addicts
from smoking." "Once again, the EU Commission is focusing on the
obsolete "quit or die" approach when it comes to tobacco cessation,
instead of designing a reality-based addiction policy."
Stöver also regrets that the EU Commission ignores the
scientifically proven benefits of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation
and even goes so far as to portray them as part of the problem:
"The UK, New Zealand and Canada are using e-cigarettes as a key
tool in the fight against tobacco use and are more successful than
the EU with its outdated approach."
E-cigarettes are about twice as successful as other nicotine
replacement products in helping people quit smoking, he said. "In
addiction research, it has long been known that people more likely
succeed in overcoming their addiction when they take many small
steps instead of one big step" said the addiction expert. It is
therefore not surprising that surveys in Great Britain show, that
more than one million ex-smokers who used e-cigarettes during the
interim phase are now completely abstinent.
Nevertheless, in the recently published Beating Cancer Plan,
the EU Commission sees no reason to accept e-cigarettes, tobacco
heating products or nicotine pouches as effective smoking cessation
tools: "The EU Commission ignores scientific evidence and puts
e-cigarettes on a level with tobacco products." "I absolutely do
not understand why such an effective instrument is being massively
contested", explains Prof. Stöver.
"The higher the targets we set ourselves as a society, the more
convincing the ways must be to achieve them. "We cannot determine
overambitious target values without offering people a convincing
path to defeat their addiction", he points out.
The model for such a path could be the tobacco control
strategies from the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. For
years, they have aimed to create awareness for the positive effects
of switching from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes. "I
believe that for ethical as well as practical reasons, it would
have been an absolute necessity to include e-cigarettes as a
central component in tobacco cessation in the new Beating Cancer
Plan. It should have been clearly stated that e-cigarettes and
tobacco heating products are not harmless, but they are a
significantly less harmful alternatives to continued smoking. This
would be especially important for smokers who fail to quit the far
more dangerous tobacco cigarette. After all, this remains the most
harmful form of nicotine use."
About Heino Stöver
Heino Stöver is a professor at Frankfurt University of Applied
Sciences and executive director of the Institute for Addiction
Research at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (ISFF). He is
active as a consultant to WHO, UNODC, the European Commission, the
International Red Cross, the Society for International Cooperation,
the Open Society Institute, and ministries of health/social affairs
(in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia).
He is co-founder of the international peer-reviewed International
Journal of Prisoner Health and co-editor of the publication series
Health Promotion in Prisons. Since 2008, he has been chairman of
akzept e.V. (Federal Association for Accepting Drug Work and Humane
Drug Policy). He is also a member of the advisory working group
"Men's Health" of the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) in
Germany.
Contact
Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences
Fachbereich 4: Soziale Arbeit und Gesundheit
Prof. Dr. Heino Stöver
Phone: +49 69 1533-2823 und mobile: +49 162 133 45 33
heino.stoever@fb4.fra-uas.de
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