How successful are shock patterns and smoking bans in the fight against tobacco use?

Physicians report first successes by the measures against smoking

In Germany, many people still smoke daily, although in recent years various measures have been implemented to protect against the dangerous health effects of smoking. How successful are tax increases, the ban on advertising for tobacco, nationwide smoking bans and shock pictures on cigarette packs really?

In the seventies it was still normal for people to smoke on television. It used to be smoked everywhere - in public places, at work, in pubs and restaurants. Generally, smoking was still socially accepted. Today, however, a lot has changed in relation to this topic.

How successful are measures against smoking? Do shock images and higher prices cause people to smoke less? (Image: schankz / fotolia.com)

Every year more than 100,000 people in Germany die as a result of smoking

The consumption of tobacco is still considered the largest avoidable health risk in Germany. More than 100,000 people die from the effects of smoking in Germany alone every year, explain experts from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Exposure to secondhand smoke also leads to illnesses and additional deaths. Apparently, every fourth man and every fifth woman smokes daily or occasionally.

Which diseases can be triggered by smoking?

In addition to heart attacks, strokes and asthma, lung cancer is one of the most dangerous health risks that smoking promotes. Estimates by the Robert Koch Institute show that the number of lung cancer cases will increase from 53,900 in 2014 to around 57,000 in 2020.

Smokers harm people in their environment

Unfortunately, smoking harms not only the smoking person himself, but also the people in the vicinity. Smokers blow about 85 percent of the smoke into the surrounding air. There the smoke is diluted. Nevertheless, the persons present unfortunately absorb one to ten percent of the pollutants that a smoker normally inhales, experts from the Medical Working Group on Smoking and Health (ÄARG) explain. In the long term, passive smoking can lead to the same diseases as active smoking, and thus to lung cancer.

Nicotine has a very high addictive potential

Of course, most smokers know that their unhealthy habit can harm themselves and their fellow human beings. Nevertheless, the affected persons continue to smoke. Of course, most smokers have tried to quit smoking and it makes no difference whether they are men or women. Unfortunately, nicotine contained in tobacco has a very high addictive potential. As a result, smoking quickly causes mental and physical dependence.

Young people need to be stopped from smoking

Especially among young people, it is important that they are kept from smoking. After all, if young people do not start smoking until they are 18 or 20 years old, they usually do not continue to do so in their future lives. That is why there are also some policies to prevent tobacco consumption. These include, for example, large tax increases, which reduced the number of younger smokers in the period from 2002 to 2006. Tobacco advertising bans in the EU also had an effect and led to a further reduction in the number of people smoking. There were also non-smoker protection laws enacted in Germany, which led to widespread smoking bans in public institutions. Since May in the year 2016 shocking pictures on cigarette packs have been displayed. These showed, for example, corpses, damaged lungs and rotten teeth.

What were the results of the measures against smoking??

The measures had quite promising results. The numbers of people suffering from heart attacks have already changed significantly since the measures. There were fewer hospitalizations for acute cardiovascular disease following the introduction of non-smoker protection laws, experts explain. The impact on the number of people with lung cancer are still unclear. It often takes a long time for the first symptoms of the disease to appear. A positive influence of the measures against the smoking can be determined thus only in some years.

Smoke-free in Germany is now a social norm

The far-reaching measures against smoking have already led to smoking being reduced in visibility. Especially for young people, it is important that smoking in pubs and pubs is now no longer considered normal. Experts from the Robert Koch Institute stated that smoke-freeness in Germany has meanwhile become a social norm.

Tobacco industry tries to shift responsibility to consumers

Of course, the tobacco industry is not really enthusiastic about the anti-smoking measures. The high proportion of smoking people in the population have a right to not being discriminated against by federal authorities, the argument goes. Moreover, it is not the job of government agencies to educate adult people, say tobacco industry officials. Critics are of the opinion that the tobacco industry simply wants to shift responsibility to consumers. (As)