Anti-smoking messages up in smoke, as govt's across the globe fail to take necessary measures
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Transcript
00:00 And for more on this, I'm joined by Dr. Derek Yock.
00:02 He's a global health expert,
00:04 former head of tobacco control
00:05 for the World Health Organization
00:07 and former president of the Foundation
00:08 for a Smoke-Free World.
00:10 Thanks so much for being with us here on "France 24."
00:12 You know, we've been hearing about the dangers of smoking
00:15 for decades, you know, since the 1960s, really.
00:17 So why is it so hard to get this message across?
00:21 - Well, I think, first of all,
00:23 it's a product that's addictive because of nicotine
00:27 and also because it's massively marketed.
00:30 And really, governments,
00:31 while they speak about a lot of action,
00:33 have not taken some of the best actions
00:35 that they can take in the last few years.
00:37 - What do we know particularly about young people
00:40 who have picked up the habit
00:41 and how successful has the tobacco industry been
00:44 in getting its message out to what it views
00:47 as a new generation of smokers?
00:50 - Well, I would say that we have seen rises
00:53 in young kids smoking,
00:55 but I think the biggest story is that,
00:57 as we've seen e-cigarettes and alternatives
01:00 that include nicotine,
01:02 but don't have the deadly consequences of combustion,
01:05 we've actually seen smoking rates come down in kids
01:08 across the US, across the UK, across Europe,
01:10 and many other parts of the world.
01:12 Often, this is being displaced
01:14 by these substantially less harmful products,
01:17 as I say, like e-cigarettes, nicotine patches, and so on.
01:21 - Right, you're talking there about vaping,
01:23 and people do that now in conjunction
01:25 with cigarettes or by itself.
01:27 How has vaping changed the equation, in your opinion?
01:30 - Well, we now have over 100 million people
01:33 around the world out of the total smoking population
01:36 of over a billion who are using a combination of vapes,
01:40 nicotine patches, heat-not-burn products for them,
01:43 particularly for the adults.
01:44 This is going to substantially lower their risk
01:47 of lung cancer, heart disease, and many of other conditions.
01:50 The problem is that the World Health Organization
01:52 has not got behind this massive trend
01:55 that partly explains why your commentary earlier
01:57 said that Japan, Japanese, are smoking
02:00 substantially less combustible cigarettes
02:03 as they've moved to these less harmful products.
02:05 The same is happening across Lithuania,
02:07 and Latvia, and the UK, and now even in Pakistan,
02:10 where better alternatives are helping smokers quit
02:14 or switch to substantially less damaging products.
02:17 - This year, the WHO is highlighting
02:19 how the tobacco industry contributes
02:21 to the global food crisis.
02:23 Can you explain that?
02:25 - Yes, I mean, the basic argument has always been
02:28 that tobacco land displaces the potential
02:30 for people to grow food.
02:32 The reality has been for 35 years
02:35 that it's very tough to get farmers to switch
02:37 unless there's a better support and financial effort
02:40 to get them to do it.
02:41 As many years ago, when I met the head
02:44 of the Malawi Tobacco Growers Association,
02:46 Henry Ntaba, he said, "I'm a farmer first.
02:49 "I'm a tobacco farmer second,"
02:51 basically saying, "Give me better pricing support,
02:53 "and I will switch."
02:54 But at this point, that isn't the case.
02:57 35 years later, sadly, no major organization,
03:00 the FAO, World Bank, WHO,
03:03 have actually given farmers the support to switch.
03:06 And in fact, the only one who has put millions into this
03:08 is the previous Foundation for a Smoke-Free World,
03:10 our lead, that is doing this in Malawi,
03:12 where we've seen success.
03:14 The problem is that we've got to reduce demand
03:16 as well as support supply.
03:18 Demand reduction can accelerate
03:20 if we give people alternatives,
03:23 but helping the farmer,
03:24 particularly the smallholder farmer in Africa,
03:27 as demand goes down,
03:28 I believe is an ethical and moral responsibility
03:31 that the development community has not risen to.
03:34 So it's one thing to say, "Get them to grow food,"
03:37 but if they're going to grow food
03:38 at a substantially lower benefit to them financially,
03:41 why would they do it?
03:43 We need to think this through much more carefully
03:45 and bring the tobacco farmers to the table,
03:47 even with the tobacco industry
03:49 and all of the growers and WHO,
03:51 and I think then we could find a decent solution.
03:53 - Okay, we'll have to leave it there.
03:55 Derek Ayok, global health expert,
03:57 former head of tobacco and control
03:58 for the World Health Organization
03:59 and former president of the Foundation
04:01 for a Smoke-Free World.
04:02 Thanks for joining us here on France 24.
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