Brazil’s Plan To Save Millions Of Lives
Brazil is “on the cusp of a public health miracle” as it prepares to legalise vapes in the ongoing war against smoking, according to international health experts
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by Dave Cross
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Brazil is “on the cusp of a public health miracle” as it prepares to legalise vapes in the ongoing war against smoking, according to international health experts. Lifting its current ban on vapes would throw a lifeline to millions of people who smoke, help to cut rampant illicit trade and offer protection to the underaged, the experts at Smoke Free Sweden say.
Although vapes are currently prohibited in Brazil, they are widely available on the black market and youths have easy access to unregulated, potentially dangerous illicit products.
The National Congress is now considering a bill seeking to authorise the production, sale, import and use of these safer alternatives to cigarettes.
Dr Delon Human, a global harm reduction expert and leader of Smoke Free Sweden, commented: “To help people who smoke escape the deadly grip of cigarettes, it is essential to offer them less harmful alternatives.
“International evidence shows that Brazil’s plan to legalise vapes will dramatically reduce the country’s smoking rates and improve public health, while driving down illicit trade and the dangers it poses to the underaged.
“Like Sweden and New Zealand before them, Brazilian lawmakers can defeat smoking by making safer alternatives to cigarettes acceptable, accessible and affordable. They should pass this bill and begin saving lives as quickly as possible.”
Smoke Free Sweden says that through the promotion of safer alternatives such as snus, nicotine pouches and vapes, Sweden has reduced its smoking rates by 55% over the past decade, resulting in a staggering 44% fewer smoking-related deaths compared to the rest of the European Union.
“Since New Zealand's Ministry of Health endorsed vaping as a cessation tool in 2019, that country's smoking rates have nearly halved, serving as another example of how tobacco harm reduction (THR) policies can drive down smoking-related deaths and diseases,” the organisation added.
Dr Human continued: “Some 191,000 Brazilians die prematurely every year due to smoking-related diseases, even though the tools exist to reduce that staggering toll.
“Research has shown that incorporating THR into standard tobacco control would prevent 1,364,000 premature deaths in the next four decades.
“We are on the cusp of a public health miracle. Brazil should drop the prohibitions against vapes that are so evidently failing and embrace this life-saving opportunity.”
Smoke Free Sweden’s report, Lives Saved. Integrating Harm Reduction Into Tobacco Control, can be found by clicking the title or from a link at the foot of this article.
Smoke Free Sweden is a movement that encourages other countries to follow the Swedish experience when it comes to Tobacco Harm Reduction. Sweden is about to become the first ‘smoke free’ European country, with a smoking rate below 5 percent. This remarkable achievement can be attributed to Sweden’s open attitude towards alternative nicotine products.
References:
- Smoke Free Sweden - www.smokefreesweden.org
- Lives Saved. Integrating Harm Reduction Into Tobacco Control - https://smokefreesweden.org/Lives_Saved_Report24-25_Brazil%20%28EN%29.pdf
- Debate sobre regulamentação de cigarros eletrônicos avança no Senado com foco no combate ao mercado illegal - https://jovempan.com.br/saude/debate-sobre-regulamentacao-de-cigarros-eletronicos-avanca-no-senado-com-foco-no-combate-ao-mercado-ilegal.html
Photo Credit:
Photo by Matheus Câmara da Silva on Unsplash, resized and cropped
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
