SMOKING IS PROHIBITED IN UCLM CENTERS
“Smoking is only allowed in the outdoor Campus spaces, except for the immediate accesses to the buildings and the sidewalks that surround them, where the smoking ban persists.”
(Art.7.d. Law 42/2010, of December 30, which modifies Law 28/2005, of December 26, on sanitary measures against smoking and regulating the sale, supply, consumption and advertising of tobacco products.).
OVERVIEW
Nicotine contained in tobacco is highly addictive and tobacco use is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, over 20 different types or subtypes of cancer, and many other debilitating health conditions. Every year, more than 8 million people die from tobacco use. Most tobacco-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, which are often targets of intensive tobacco industry interference and marketing.
Tobacco can also be deadly for non-smokers. Second-hand smoke exposure has also been implicated in adverse health outcomes, causing 1.2 million deaths annually. Nearly half of all children breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke and 65 000 children die each year due to illnesses related to second-hand smoke. Smoking while pregnant can lead to several life-long health conditions for babies.
Heated tobacco products (HTPs) contain tobacco and expose users to toxic emissions, many of which cause cancer and are harmful to health. Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNDS), commonly known as e-cigarettes, do not contain tobacco and may or may not contain nicotine, but are harmful to health and undoubtedly unsafe. However, it is too early to provide a clear answer on the long-term impact of HTPs and/or e-cigarette use.
IMPACT
An estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide use tobacco products, 80% of whom are in low- and middle-income countries. Tobacco use contributes to poverty by diverting household spending from basic needs, such as food and shelter, to tobacco. This spending behaviour is difficult to curb because tobacco is so addictive. It also causes premature death and disability of productive age adults in households thus leading to reduced household income and increased healthcare costs.
In addition to the detrimental impact of tobacco on health, the total economic cost of smoking (from health expenditures and productivity losses together) are estimated to be around US$ 1.4 trillion per year, equivalent in magnitude to 1.8% of the world's annual gross domestic product (GDP). Almost 40% of this cost occurred in developing countries, highlighting the substantial burden these countries suffer.
Tobacco taxes are applied in part to combat this effect and are seen as the most cost-effective way of curbing tobacco use, particularly among youth and low-income populations. A tax increase that increases tobacco prices by 10% decreases tobacco consumption by about 4% in high-income countries and about 5% in low- and middle-income countries.
The scale of this human and economic tragedy is shocking, but it’s also preventable. Big Tobacco — along with all manufacturers of tobacco products — is fighting to ensure the dangers of their products are concealed, but we are fighting back: In 2003, WHO Member States unanimously adopted the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the only public health treaty under the auspices of WHO. In force since 2005, it has currently 181 Parties.
To help countries implement the WHO FCTC, WHO introduced MPOWER, a package of technical measures and resources, each of which corresponds to at least one provision of the WHO FCTC. MPOWER builds the capacity of countries to implement 6 measures to reduce the demand for tobacco products: monitor tobacco use and prevention policies, protect people from tobacco use, offer help to quit tobacco use, warn about the dangers of tobacco, enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and raise taxes on tobacco.
GET THE FACTS ABOUT ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES, THEIR HEALTH EFFECTS AND THE RISKS OF USING E-CIGARETTES.
E-cigarettes are sometimes called “e-cigs,” “vapes,” “e-hookahs,” “vape pens,” and “electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).” Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Some look like USB flash drives, pens, and other everyday items.
Heated tobacco products heat processed tobacco leaf, allowing users to inhale nicotine into their lungs. Some brands of heated tobacco products permitted for sale in the United States include IQOS and Eclipse.
More research is needed to understand the short- and long-term health effects of heated tobacco products.
The use of any type of tobacco product—including heated tobacco products—is harmful, especially for youth, young adults, and pregnant women, as well as adults who do not currently use tobacco products.
Heated tobacco products have not been scientifically shown to help smokers quit.
If you’ve never used tobacco products, including heated tobacco products, don’t start.
- Sometimes marketed as “heat-not-burn” products, heated tobacco products come in many forms.
- Some heated tobacco products use electronic heating elements.
- Some heat specially-designed sticks, plugs, or capsules containing tobacco. This is how the electronically heated tobacco product authorized for sale in the United States works.
- Some work by heating liquids that create an emission that then passes through a tobacco plug to absorb flavor and nicotine from the tobacco.
- Some have a sealed part of the device that heats loose tobacco, either alone or together with flowers from the marijuana (cannabis) plant.
- Some are used with flavorings.
- Some allow users to control factors such as the temperature.
- Some heated tobacco products have a similar size and shape as regular cigarettes and have a carbon tip wrapped in glass fibers that the user heats with a lighter or match. Federal law allows this type of product to be sold in the United States.
- No. Heated tobacco products heat actual tobacco leaf. By contrast, e-cigarettes heat liquids that typically contain nicotine derived from tobacco, as well as flavorings and other ingredients. Learn more about e-cigarettes.
- Heated tobacco products are still new in the United States, and scientists are still learning about their short- and long-term health effects.
- The use of any tobacco product—including heated tobacco products—is harmful, especially for youth, young adults, and pregnant women, as well as adults who do not currently use tobacco products.
- Regardless of whether they are heated by flame or electronically, heated tobacco products contain nicotine.
- Nicotine is highly addictive.
- Nicotine exposure can also harm the developing adolescent brain. The brain keeps developing until about age 25.
- Using nicotine in adolescence can harm the parts of the brain that
control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control.
- Using nicotine in adolescence may also increase the risk for future
addiction to other drugs.
- Nicotine is toxic to developing fetuses.
- Heated tobacco products produce emissions that are not as safe as clean air.
- Studies of secondhand emissions from heated tobacco products suggest that the products expose both users and bystanders to some of the same chemicals found in cigarette smoke, although at lower levels than cigarette smoke.
- Additional research is needed to understand the health effects of heated tobacco products and their emissions.
The emissions created from heated tobacco products generally contain lower levels of harmful ingredients than the smoke from regular cigarettes. However, that does not mean heated tobacco products are safe.
Research suggests that heated tobacco products and their emissions contain many of the same harmful ingredients as regular cigarettes, as well as other harmful ingredients not present in regular cigarettes.
Additional research is needed to determine whether adult cigarette smokers who completely switch to heated tobacco products might reduce their risks of tobacco-related disease. Studies from other countries suggest that most adults who use heated tobacco products have not quit using cigarettes. Surveys of young adults in the U.S. suggest that young adults also use heated tobacco products in combination with other tobacco products. Use of multiple tobacco products is associated with increased risk for nicotine dependence and adverse health effects.
As of February 2022, the FDA has authorized only one heated tobacco product system (IQOS and three of its tobacco-containing Heatstick products) to be marketed as modified risk tobacco products. These were the first tobacco products to receive “exposure modification” orders. These specific products may be marketed with claims that a person who uses regular cigarettes and fully switches to IQOS can reduce their exposure to harmful chemicals.
Similar claims may not be made about other heated tobacco products or about secondhand exposure to emissions from these products. In addition, the manufacturer of IQOS may not claim that using IQOS reduces the risk of disease, that the products are endorsed or approved by the FDA, or that the FDA deems the products to be safe for use by consumers.
Heated tobacco products are not an FDA-approved method for quitting smoking.
- PARENTS AND TEACHERS CAN:
- Learn about the different types of tobacco products and the risks of using tobacco products, including heated tobacco products.
- Set a good example by being tobacco-free and maintaining a tobacco-free home.
- Talk to children, teens, and young adults about why all forms of tobacco products are harmful for them.
- Develop, implement, and enforce tobacco-free school policies and prevention programs that are free from tobacco industry influence, and that address all types of tobacco products, including heated tobacco products.
- HEALTH PROFESSIONALS CAN:
- Learn about the different types of tobacco products and the risks of using tobacco products.
- Ask about use of all forms of tobacco products, including heated tobacco products, when screening patients for the use of tobacco products.
- Talk to children, teens, and young adults about why all forms of tobacco products are harmful for them.
- Encourage patients to quit using tobacco products.
-
- E-cigarettes have the potential to benefit adult smokers who are not pregnant if used as a complete substitute for regular cigarettes and other smoked tobacco products.
- E-cigarettes are not safe for youth, young adults, and pregnant women, as well as adults who do not currently use tobacco products.
- While e-cigarettes have the potential to benefit some people and harm others, scientists still have a lot to learn about whether e-cigarettes are effective for quitting smoking.
- If you’ve never smoked or used other tobacco products or e-cigarettes, don’t start.
- Additional research can help understand long-term health effects.
