Forty organizations representing tobacco victims and associations specializing in the fight against smoking are co-signing an appeal to parliamentarians and reminding them that their vote can save thousands of lives. In a forum co-signed by organizations representing victims of tobacco and associations specializing in the fight against smoking, the world of the fight against addictions, preventable deaths and against health inequalities is mobilized. With these organizations, millions of usually silent people speak to Parliamentarians and remind them that their vote can save thousands of lives.
The measures necessary to reduce the consequences of smoking must be discussed in Parliament from November 10, as part of the Bill to Modernize the Health System. They are the subject of an intense lobby by the tobacco industry to challenge them. Effective measures are particularly in sight, without which it is illusory to hope to stop the progression of deaths from tobacco 78 000 annual deaths and to reduce the cost to the community - recently estimated 120 billion by annuity.
The introduction of the neutral package, the ultimate marketing object for manufacturers, is one of the measures strongly attacked. The creation of a tobacco prevention fund, supplied by the industry, should allow the implementation of all the provisions of the Framework Convention for tobacco control that the French Parliament ratified in 2004. These two major provisions are '' integrate into a set of preventive measures, support for quitting and also greater control of the activities of the tobacco industry.
«On behalf of current and future tobacco victims, I call on the national representation to adopt all the measures of the National Program for the Reduction of Smoking, in particular the neutral package and the creation of a Prevention Fund funded by the industry, and to accompany them with an increase in taxes without which failure is guaranteedSays Albert Hirsch, President of the Alliance Against Tobacco.
Millions of voices are expressed through the signatories of this Call.
The call of tobacco victims
Tobacco consumption in France kills prematurely 78 000 people per year, more than 200 deaths per day ! Your vote can save thousands of lives.
« Ladies and gentlemen,
The bill to modernize our health system is in your hands. Lastly, this project will make it possible to put in place comprehensive measures to fight and prevent smoking.
Indeed, tobacco consumption in France prematurely kills 78000 people per year, or more than 200 deaths per day! Our children fall into the smoking trap very young: at 17, 40% of girls and boys smoke. Smoking is the first factor of social inequality in health as it mainly affects the most vulnerable populations.
In women the frequency of lung cancer is exploding. Today in France, lung cancer affects 40 people each year.
About 80% of infarctions before age 50 and up to 80% of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) are due to tobacco. Several million people in France have to live with these chronic pathologies.
In addition to this unsustainable human cost, the cost to public finances is major with a net deficit attributable to tobacco of nearly € 15 billion per year, or more than € 40 million per day. Tobacco is prohibitively expensive for all of us, and taxes on tobacco products, paid by smokers alone, are very little in relation to the costs.
This health scourge is all the more scandalous because it is not inevitable. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, the United States and many others, by applying the recommendations of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), have stopped their drastic and lasting tobacco consumption.
It is essential that the representatives of the Nation affirm loud and clear their support for all the provisions of the National Tobacco Control Program (NRPP) contained in the Act to modernize our health system and vote in favor of their adoption during the debates held in Parliament.
These measures include the introduction of the standardized neutral package and the creation of a Tobacco Prevention Fund. The effectiveness of the neutral package has been rigorously demonstrated: 2/3 of the people questioned consider it "dull, ugly", consider that it does not make you want to be bought and that it dissuades you from starting to smoke.
Ladies and gentlemen, the choice is simple:
• on the one hand, health promotion for the French,
• on the other, the defense of the financial interests of four multinationals whose sole purpose is the cynical search for profit, whatever the human cost.
On behalf of the victims of smoking and on behalf of our children who must be protected against the ravages of this addiction, we urge you to vote during the discussion in the National Assembly in favor of all the measures of the PNRT, and particularly for the neutral package.
Your vote in favor of these measures will save thousands of lives. »
List of signatories of the Tribune
-Alliance Against Tobacco, ACT - Prof. Albert Hirsch
-Alliance of the Heart, Philippe Thebault
-Association of Lorraine Actors in Tobacco, AALT, Dr. Nathalie Wirth
-Interdisciplinary Association of Research on Smoking in Lower Normandy, AIRTBN, Dr. Béatrice Le Maître
-National Association of Prevention in Alcoology and Addiction, ANPAA, Dr. Alain Rigaud
-National Association of Midwives French Tabacologists, ANSFTF, Conchita Gomez
-Association Périnatalité Prevention Research Information, APPRI, Pr Michel Delcroix
-Camera Health, Nadia Collot
-Interassociative Collective on Health, CISS, Claude Rambaud, Danièle Desclerc
-National College of Cardiologists, CNCF, Dr. Jacques Gauthier, Dr. Olivier Hoffman
National Committee Against Respiratory Diseases, CNMR, Pr Christos Chouaïd
-National Committee Against Smoking, CNCT, Pr Yves Martinet
-Coordination Breton Tabacology, CBT, Pr Jean-Dominique Dewitte
-EméVia, Ahmed Egazy
- Space for Consultation and Liaison Addictions Smoking, ECLAT, Marie-Ange Testelin
-Federation Addictions, FA, Jean-Pierre Couteron
- French Addiction Federation, FFA, Pr Amine Benyamina
- French Federation of Associations and Associations of the sick, insufficient or disabled, FFAAIR, Michel Vicaire
- French Federation of Cardiology, FFC, Pr Claire Mounier-Véhier
-Federation Française de Pneumologie, FFP, Pr Bruno Housset
National Federation of French Mutuality, Etienne Caniard
-Federation National Association for Home Treatments, Innovations and Research, Antadir, Pr Jean-François Muir
ARC Foundation for Cancer Research, Pr Jacques Raynaud
-Fondation of the Breath, Pr Gérard Huchon
-France Network of Behavioral Addictologists and Tabacologists, FRACTAL, Claude Guillaumin
-Institut Gustave Roussy, IGR, Pr Alexander Eggermont
- The Red Cross, Prof. Jean-Jacques Eledjam
-The Mutuelle des Etudiants, LMDE
-The Rights of Non-Smokers, DNF, Gérard Audureau
- National League Against Cancer, LNCC, Pr Jacqueline Godet
-Paris Without Tobacco, PST, Pr Bertrand Dautzenberg
-Network of Prevention of Addictions, RESPADD, Dr Anne Borgne
- French Society of Cardiology, SFC, Pr Yves Juillière
-French Society of Arterial Hypertension, SFHTA, Pr Jacques Blacher
-French Society of Public Health, SFSP, Professor Pierre Lombral
-Francophone Society of Tabacology, SFT, Dr. Nathalie Wirth
-Pulmonology Society of French Language, SPLF, Pr Philippe Delaval
-Specialists Union for Heart and Vessel Diseases, SNSMCV, Dr. Eric Perchicot
-National Union of Home Assistance Associations, SNADOM, Pr Dominique Robert
-Tabac and Liberty, Dr. Pierre Rouzaud
Source : Le Figaro
