An analysis of data from the Swiss Monitoring of Addictions was commissioned and funded by the Federal Office of Public Health, with the support of the Tobacco Prevention Fund. This report on smoking cessation evokes many points but more interesting still, it deals with the e-cigarette.
The numbers are encouraging: the number of smokers wanting to stop smoking increased by 11,4% since 2011. They are currently 52,8% to want to ban smoking from their daily lives. This is what emerges from a survey conducted in 2015 by the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP) and published on Monday. Both people who smoke every day and those who do so occasionally want to break free from tobacco. 24% of people who smoke every day have tried to quit in the past 12 months. 70% of them did so without professional help.
Verena El Fehri, president of the Swiss association for the prevention of smoking, explains this development by the laws that have become stricter, such as those which affect bars in particular. "Nowadays, smokers are less visible. Today, not smoking has become the norm.»
The e-cigarette is the most used aid when trying to quit smoking
The place of the electronic cigarette in the offer of smoking cessation in Switzerland was still relatively marginal in 2015: 5.8% of smokers / his dailies with stopping attempts in last 12 months cited it as help during the last stop attempt. However, this is the most cited aid and this proportion has been rising since 2013. However, the data collected do not make it possible to draw conclusions on a positive or negative effect of its use in the perspective of stopping smoking.
E-cigarette and quitting: Some clarifications
The number of smokers is stable in Switzerland
While a growing number of people want to quit smoking, the actual number of smokers in Switzerland has remained stable in recent years. Would the majority of smokers not manage to do without cigarettes? No, replies Simone Buchmann, spokesperson for the FOPH. "More and more people want to quit smoking and some of them are doing so. But you have to consider the fact that Switzerland also has new smokers every year.According to her, the latter are mostly young adults under the age of 20.
Simone Buchmann also notes that these young people are not only ensuring that the number of smokers remains constant in Switzerland. Thus, only 14,9% of 15 to 19 years intend to quit smoking within the next 30 days. On the other hand, they are 44,4% to want to do it in the coming 6 months.
"Smoking is legal"
Young people therefore continue to smoke even if they know that it is harmful to their health: "The pleasure of smoking and the desire to look cool are still very strong at this age. " Verena El Fehri also notes that a large majority of young people only think about smoking during a short period of their life: “That's why they don't want to quit at that age."On the other hand, the desire to do without cigarettes is most intense among 34 to 44 year olds:" A person who has a family and a job perceives more intensely from those around him that smoking is not good. "
Despite this, Gregor Rutz, UDC national councilor and president of the Swiss tobacco trade community, believes that launching awareness campaigns to encourage people to quit is no use. "We are trying to pass off smoking as something negative and to impose a certain lifestyle on consumers."And to add:"Smoking is legal and adults have the right to do whatever they want.».
Source : suchtmonitoring.ch
