World No Tobacco Day is Approaching - Quitting Smoking: Substitute Products from the Pharmacy as an Option

When people want to quit smoking and turn to their general practitioner with their concerns, more than half of the 254 general practitioners surveyed for a study recommend substitute products from the pharmacy. This was the result of personal interviews with general practitioners commissioned by the Nicotine Institute Vienna. 65 recommended a cold withdrawal, nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes were recommended by 18 and 20 doctors respectively, it was reported on Tuesday.

Stronger Education Demanded Before World No Tobacco Day

The survey was conducted by IDS Austria. The study was commissioned and funded by the Nicotine Institute Vienna. The interviews were conducted in the first quarter of this year. It makes sense to first wean people off cigarettes and tobacco and then, in a further step, from nicotine, said the German addiction researcher Heino Stöver, who was connected from Bremen. On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, the institute called for stronger education about lower-risk alternatives to tobacco cigarettes.

According to the German Cancer Research Center, e-inhalers are probably somewhat less harmful compared to tobacco smoking because the liquids are not burned but heated. However, they are still a health risk, reported the news agency AFP on Tuesday. According to the German Medical Association, the nicotine contained in the products can negatively affect brain development and cause addiction. Furthermore, the e-cigarettes, which are also popular among adolescents, contain carcinogenic substances and can attack the respiratory organs and the cardiovascular system, it was reported. Among young e-cigarette users, the risk of later switching to tobacco cigarettes is also higher than among adolescents who do not smoke e-cigarettes.

(APA/Red)

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