The paper, published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research by Oxford University Press, observed a group of adult smokers in the U.S. who had reported a baseline cough or wheeze.
The EU has set itself a goal of being declared smoke free, defined by the World Health Organisation as having a smoking rate of under five per cent, by 2040.
The Scandinavian country has by far the lowest smoking rate in Europe, having fallen from 15 per cent in 2007 to 5.6 per cent in 2022.
The research, published in scientific journal The Lancet, shows that reducing smoking levels to under five per cent (when a country can officially be declared ‘smoke free’) would increase global life expectancy by one year for men and by 0.2 years for women.
Ireland’s new tax on vapes puts smokers’ lives at risk and is a “setback in the fight against tobacco”, according to international health experts.
Smoking rates in New Zealand are set to dip below five per cent, putting it on the brink of being declared officially ‘smoke free.’
Contrary to global trends, smoking rates in the two countries - where lawmakers have heavily regulated vapes alongside far more dangerous cigarettes - are set to rise over the next few years.
Smoking rates have stagnated in European Union countries where less harmful nicotine alternatives are not readily available, new data reveals.
It’s been a bust few weeks in the world of safer nicotine products, what with Australia’s effective prohibition, some European country urging a continent wide flavour ban, and Sweden going the other way and implementing harm-based taxation.
If you weren’t paying close attention, you’ll probably have missed the release on Monday (24th June) of the latest EU survey on tobacco and nicotine use. And that suits the European Commission just fine.
The Swedish Parliament has agreed to lower the tax on snus by 20 percent. Meanwhile, the tax on cigarettes, cigarillos, smoking tobacco, and other tobacco will rise by nine percent.
The risks of smoking are clear: cigarettes kill over half of their long-term users. The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than eight million people per year worldwide.
