Spanish study:

“Smoking ban for young people would save lives”

Young smokers

(Bild: stock.adobe.com, krone.at-Grafik)

Internationally, politicians are increasingly calling for a ban on the sale of tobacco products to young people. A Spanish research team has now calculated what this would mean for the 2006 to 2010 birth cohorts worldwide. One result: more than 1.1 million fewer deaths from lung cancer.

"The concept of a tobacco-free generation aims to prevent the sale of tobacco to people over a certain birth cohort. (...) For our population-based birth group simulation study, we chose a scenario in which the sale of tobacco is banned to people born between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010. (...)", said Julia Rey-Brandariz from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

The results were calculated up to December 31, 2095. If the current trend were to continue, there would be around 2.95 million deaths from lung cancer in the 2006 to 2010 birth cohorts, including more men than women.

40 percent of lung cancers caused by smoking
The research team estimated that at least 40 percent of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking. A global smoking cessation in the five birth cohorts would therefore prevent around 844,000 deaths among men and around 342,000 among women. In the case of lung cancer, two thirds of all deaths are attributed to tobacco consumption.

Tobacco sales bans are currently in place in the cities of Balanga City in the Philippines and Brookline in the US state of Massachusetts, for example. In New Zealand, a corresponding law (ban from 2009 onwards) was abolished following a change of government, while in the UK a similar law was not passed following the general election.