How do European countries control smoking? Canadian experts: Government recommends e-cigarettes play a key role

David Sweanor, a tobacco harm reduction expert and chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Center for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa, Canada, made a speech at the 4th Asian Harm Reduction Forum, which attracted attention. He cited the progress of tobacco control in Canada, Japan, Iceland, Sweden and other countries, and confirmed that promoting harm reduction products such as e-cigarettes to smokers will have a positive impact on reducing tobacco sales and smoking rates.

Many experts and scholars participating in the forum are supporters of the tobacco harm reduction strategy, that is, by promoting harm reduction products such as e-cigarettes, providing smokers with options to quit smoking and reduce harm, and reduce tobacco harm.

According to David Sweanor, the Canadian government has adopted a tobacco harm reduction strategy to promote domestic tobacco control progress. The official website of the Canadian government cites a number of authoritative research reports to elaborate on the potential of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation and harm reduction, clearly pointing out that smokers switching to e-cigarettes will reduce exposure to harmful substances and improve overall health. At the same time, the website also emphasizes that there is conclusive evidence that e-cigarettes can greatly increase the success rate of smokers in quitting smoking.

According to the "Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey" report, since the government adopted the tobacco harm reduction strategy and popularized e-cigarettes to the public, the smoking rate of Canadians aged 20 to 30 has dropped from 13.3% to 8% from 2019 to 2020.

The e-cigarette section of the official website of the Canadian government.

In addition to Canada, David Sweano had previously led a survey report on changes in cigarette sales in Japan. The survey compared the trend of cigarette sales in Japan from 2011 to 2019. The results showed that before 2016, the decline rate of cigarette sales in Japan was "slow and steady", and after the end of 2015, heat-not-burn and other harm reduction products became popular in Japan. , the decline rate of cigarette sales increased by 5 times.
David Sweanor, tobacco harm reduction expert and chair of the Advisory Board of the Center for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa.

David Sweano sees this change as a sign of Japan's success in reducing tobacco harm. "Cigarette sales in Japan have dropped by a third in a very short period of time. And it's not done by coercion, it's just that smokers have a viable harm-reduction alternative."

For some countries that are opposed to harm reduction products such as e-cigarettes, David Sweanor suggested that these countries can learn more from countries such as the United Kingdom and Sweden.

In the UK, e-cigarettes are the most popular smoking cessation harm reduction products. The government is promoting the inclusion of e-cigarettes in medical insurance and other means to ensure that smokers of different incomes and classes can use this product to quit smoking. Similarly, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland have all been committed to promoting smokers to switch to harm-reducing products in recent years. Among them, after Iceland allowed the sale of e-cigarette products, the smoking rate also dropped by about 40% in just three years.

"As we all know, people smoke for nicotine, but die from tar. Now that safer nicotine products have appeared, if the regulatory policies of various countries can be oriented to persuade smokers to switch to harm-reducing products such as e-cigarettes, and ensure that harm-reducing products The normal sale will hopefully greatly improve the public health environment through this science and technology." David Sweanor said.