Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Tran Van Ngoc.
Harm reduction is not a safe measure and completely eliminates harmful factors, but it is also worth noting that up to 90% of toxic substances in tobacco smoke can be reduced.
Tobacco addiction and its incalculable consequences for smokers and communities have been a thorny issue for many years.
The article by Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Van Ngoc, Vice President of Vietnam Lung Association, President of Ho Chi Minh City Respiratory Association below discusses solutions for smokers who cannot quit smoking.
A recent study through Bach Mai Hospital’s smoking cessation patient support program found that the success rate of smoking cessation was only 9.5%. Meanwhile, from some other records, among those who quit the drug, the relapse rate is about 50%.
It is clear that smoking cessation is extremely difficult, so temporary tobacco harm reduction solutions are essential, with great health implications for patients directly affected by tobacco, such as COPD patients, and also those at risk.
The need to reduce tobacco harm for smokers
The negative impact of smoking on the lungs has also been well documented. The smoke of cigarettes is responsible for 90% of cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Currently, the number of patients with COPD caused by tobacco in Vietnam is about 4.5 million. COPD patients who can stop using tobacco are the best. If smoking cessation measures have not been successful or the patient himself is not determined to quit, then moving to the harm reduction phase is a solution. Accordingly, the content of toxic substances in cigarettes can be significantly reduced, thereby helping to reduce the rapid progression of the disease.
The harm reduction solution is the application of scientific advances to develop new generation tobacco products that are less harmful than conventional cigarettes.
The principle of these new tobacco products is to heat rather than burn tobacco material, while still delivering nicotine from cigarettes to smokers. For burned cigarettes, the temperature of the tobacco material when smoked ranges from 600 up to 800-900°C.
According to scientific research, a temperature of 400°C or higher will constitute combustion and the production of toxic substances that cause cancer and other diseases. Simply heating tobacco leaf material at a temperature lower than 350°C, i.e. eliminating combustion, can significantly reduce the content of toxic substances produced.
Tobacco products that reduce harm are the result of the application of scientific progress.
Therefore, reducing the main harm is a decrease in the concentration (content) of harmful substances. Although harm reduction is not a safe measure and completely eliminates harmful factors, it is also worth noting that up to 90% of toxic substances in tobacco smoke can be reduced.
Based on technical and scientific tests, as well as laboratory evaluations on mice and evaluations on volunteers, the US FDA as well as a number of other agencies in Europe and Japan, have also allowed tobacco harm reduction products to be marketed under state regulation.
In terms of medicine, especially in the field of respiration, it is necessary to have a product that is legal and fully meets the quality so that patients do not stop smoking. This is medically plausible.
Need proper management policies for harm reduction products
Smoking cessation is mandatory first. However, if smokers are unable to quit smoking, it is better to have access to harm reduction solutions so that they continue to smoke cigarettes. This will reduce the impact of everyday ill effects on the patient himself and the risk to future generations. For example, parents with COPD, lung cancer, children who are smoking cigarettes are also at risk of these diseases.
However, in order for the new generation of tobacco products that have been scientifically identified as having the potential to reduce harm as an alternative to cigarettes, a regulatory framework is needed first. Which products have been approved by reputable international health authorities (such as the US FDA, PHE of the UK, the Japanese Ministry of Health …) based on full, objective studies, recognizing the content of harmful substances much lower (about 90% compared to cigarettes), to be allowed to be put into management.
It is important to distinguish genuine scientific products aimed at achieving the harm reduction effect of tobacco, from floating products, counterfeits, even disguised goods, on the black market today.
Thus, medically, the tobacco company itself as well as the medical industry will be responsible for checking the quality and content of toxic substances in the new generation of cigarettes before licensing and bringing the product to users. Accordingly, doctors will also be assured to advise and provide information to patients – who cannot quit smoking – to switch to use before completely quitting smoking.
For society and communities, there should be strict management standards to prevent young people from accessing smuggled and disguised products.
In addition, it is necessary to promote information and propaganda about the harmful effects of all types of tobacco. Counseling, education, and smoking cessation support measures need to be regularly repeated, even counseling the smoker’s family members so that they continue to counsel the smoker again. This effort needs the coordination of all stakeholders, from regulators, families, schools and the medical profession.
In addition, open thinking towards scientific advances in finding solutions to prevent and combat the harmful effects of tobacco in a more effective way is also essential.
Source:
PV (Vietnam+) 04/01/2023 11:04 GMT+7
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