{"id":24667,"date":"2025-06-03T09:36:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=24667"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:36:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:36:44","slug":"mexicos-crackdown-on-safer-nicotine-alternatives-is-costing-thousands-of-lives-says-global-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/mexicos-crackdown-on-safer-nicotine-alternatives-is-costing-thousands-of-lives-says-global-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico\u2019s crackdown on safer nicotine alternatives is costing thousands of lives, says global report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mexico\u2019s hardline approach to safer nicotine products is fueling a smoking crisis that claims 65,000 lives every year, according to a major new international report.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The groundbreaking study, conducted by global health experts, highlights a sharp contrast between two nations. While Sweden has nearly eliminated smoking through harm reduction strategies, Mexico\u2019s strict prohibitionist stance has allowed smoking rates to surge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Progressive policies outperform bans\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The report<\/a>, titled Tale of Two Nations: A Comparative Study of How Mexico and Sweden Are Faring in the Fight Against Smoking<\/em>, presents strong evidence that progressive policies built around safer, smoke-free alternatives consistently outperform bans and prohibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: SmokeFree Sweden<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2009, Mexico\u2019s adult smoking rate has climbed from 16.5 percent to 19.5 percent – an increase of nearly 20 percent. Over the same period, Sweden\u2019s smoking rate has dropped by a massive 54 percent, falling to just 5.3 percent (at the time of the report). This is the lowest smoking prevalence in the European Union (EU). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the report was published, this rate has dropped even further to 4.5 per cent, meeting the World Health Organisation\u2019s definition of a smoke-free country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Mexico, smoking causes 65,000 deaths and leads to 430,000 new cases of smoking-related disease each year. In contrast, Sweden has achieved the lowest tobacco-related disease and death rates across Europe, including a male lung cancer death rate 61 percent lower than the EU average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe evidence is undeniable,\u201d said Dr. Delon Human, author of the report and leader of Smoke Free Sweden. \u201cSweden\u2019s harm reduction approach has sharply reduced smoking rates and lowered smoking-related diseases, while Mexico\u2019s ban on safer alternatives is failing its people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Sweden\u2019s success down to safer alternatives<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sweden attributes its success to policies that make smoke-free alternatives such as snus, nicotine pouches, and vapes legally available, affordable, and accessible for adult smokers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These policies include legal market access, taxation that favours less harmful products over cigarettes, and regulations based on clear evidence of the vast difference in harm between combustible cigarettes and smoke-free alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bans have fuelled a thriving black market<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite growing international evidence supporting harm reduction, Mexico banned vapes in 2020 and strengthened the ban in 2022. According to the report, these bans have fuelled a thriving black market, removing quality controls while doing little to limit access or use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Human emphasised that Sweden offers Mexico a clear roadmap for change. \u201cSweden has shown how Mexico can pursue its own smoke-free future and save tens of thousands of lives,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe path forward is straightforward: legalise safer alternatives, tax them less than cigarettes, educate the public on their relative safety, and regulate them properly instead of banning them. Safer alternatives provide smokers with a lifeline away from deadly cigarettes. Mexico urgently needs harm reduction, not prohibition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vapes an \u2018escape route\u2019 from smoking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The report says: \u201cJust as buildings have escape routes or doors in case of fire, smokers seeking to quit have multiple \u2018escape routes\u2019 from the dangers of combustible cigarettes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cNicotine pouches, vapes, and snus offer safer alternatives that can help smokers transition away from the harmful effects of smoking. This is because the vast majority of harm from smoking comes from the thousands of toxic substances released when tobacco is burned.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The report points to well-established evidence showing how much safer nicotine alternatives are compared to cigarettes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the UK Royal College of Physicians states that the health hazards from long-term vapour inhalation from vapes are unlikely to exceed five percent of the harm from smoking tobacco. In other words, vapes are 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mexico\u2019s hardline approach to safer nicotine products is fueling a smoking crisis that claims 65,000 lives every year, according to a major new international report. The groundbreaking study, conducted by global health experts, highlights a sharp contrast between two nations. While Sweden…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990002,"featured_media":24668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[329,334,186,333],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-24667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-european-union","tag-global","tag-nicotine","tag-sweden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24674,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24667\/revisions\/24674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24667"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=24667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}