Tobacco industry 'aggressively targeting' young people to boost sales of vapes and e-cigarettes, WHO warns
The World Health Organization has warned the tobacco industry is 'aggressively targeting' young people to boost sales of vapes and e-cigarettes even as governments target tobacco sales.
Governments have been urged to resist industry interference in their tobacco control policies.
The World Conference on Tobacco Control, which opened in Dublin on Monday, also heard the war in Ukraine had led to increased e-cigarette use among young people.
A WHO report published on Monday found a series of health measures — known as Mpower — now cover more than 6.1 billion people, representing over 75% of the world's population.
These include monitoring of tobacco use, offering help to quit, and raising taxes. However, the WHO warned about limited use of taxes, even though this is seen as the single most useful measure in reducing tobacco use.
Ireland is one of just 14 countries with total tax on tobacco at or above 75% recorded in every WHO report on this topic since 2008.
WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed increased use of these measures, but warned about rising use of e-cigarettes.
'The tobacco and related industries are aggressively targeting young people with e-cigarettes and other new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products,' he said.
The evidence is clear: e-cigarettes are harmful, particularly for children and adolescents. We cannot allow a new generation to become dependent on nicotine. Protecting young people from these products must be a top priority.
He called on governments to make sure 'tobacco control policies remain robust in the face of industry interference".
Tobacco is 'responsible for over seven million deaths annually, as well as disability and long-term suffering from tobacco-related diseases', the report said.
Many speakers focused on links between tobacco use and non-communicable disease (NCD) such as cancer or stroke.
NCD Alliance policy and advocacy adviser Alison Cox said: 'Every second, 28 people lose their lives to an NCD and of those, 25 live in low- or middle-income countries' today.
These illnesses, including those caused by tobacco use, cost global economies trillions of euro every year, she pointed out.
'There are industries out there — tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy foods, fossil fuels driving air pollution — who are making massive profit, and they're externalising their costs onto the rest of the economy,' she warned.
A speaker from Ukraine described how young people were vaping more now in parallel with increased tobacco use since the all-out Russian invasion in 2022.
Andrii Skipalskyi, unit lead for NCD management at the WHO Ukraine country office, said work on public health had continued despite the pressures of the war.
'We fight and we continue reforms, we can't abandon it,' he said.
He described how data shows conflict-related problems, including young people being displaced from their homes, is 'clearly associated' with use of e-cigarettes and tobacco products in parallel.
'We can see that in the adult population we don't observe any increase in smoking prevalence despite the war and hard economic and socio-economic circumstances,' he said.
However, a trend for downward use among young people is changing, he explained.
He described this as 'a mixed picture', saying they can now see 'a slight increase' in use of products such as heated tobacco and e-cigarettes.
Their data showed this is linked to poly-use — people using tobacco products and e-cigarettes or heated tobacco.
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Cork County Council likely to ban smoking and vaping at all its amenity areas
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Irish Examiner
10 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Tobacco industry 'aggressively targeting' young people to boost sales of vapes and e-cigarettes, WHO warns
The World Health Organization has warned the tobacco industry is 'aggressively targeting' young people to boost sales of vapes and e-cigarettes even as governments target tobacco sales. Governments have been urged to resist industry interference in their tobacco control policies. The World Conference on Tobacco Control, which opened in Dublin on Monday, also heard the war in Ukraine had led to increased e-cigarette use among young people. A WHO report published on Monday found a series of health measures — known as Mpower — now cover more than 6.1 billion people, representing over 75% of the world's population. These include monitoring of tobacco use, offering help to quit, and raising taxes. However, the WHO warned about limited use of taxes, even though this is seen as the single most useful measure in reducing tobacco use. Ireland is one of just 14 countries with total tax on tobacco at or above 75% recorded in every WHO report on this topic since 2008. WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed increased use of these measures, but warned about rising use of e-cigarettes. 'The tobacco and related industries are aggressively targeting young people with e-cigarettes and other new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products,' he said. The evidence is clear: e-cigarettes are harmful, particularly for children and adolescents. We cannot allow a new generation to become dependent on nicotine. Protecting young people from these products must be a top priority. He called on governments to make sure 'tobacco control policies remain robust in the face of industry interference". Tobacco is 'responsible for over seven million deaths annually, as well as disability and long-term suffering from tobacco-related diseases', the report said. Many speakers focused on links between tobacco use and non-communicable disease (NCD) such as cancer or stroke. NCD Alliance policy and advocacy adviser Alison Cox said: 'Every second, 28 people lose their lives to an NCD and of those, 25 live in low- or middle-income countries' today. These illnesses, including those caused by tobacco use, cost global economies trillions of euro every year, she pointed out. 'There are industries out there — tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy foods, fossil fuels driving air pollution — who are making massive profit, and they're externalising their costs onto the rest of the economy,' she warned. A speaker from Ukraine described how young people were vaping more now in parallel with increased tobacco use since the all-out Russian invasion in 2022. Andrii Skipalskyi, unit lead for NCD management at the WHO Ukraine country office, said work on public health had continued despite the pressures of the war. 'We fight and we continue reforms, we can't abandon it,' he said. He described how data shows conflict-related problems, including young people being displaced from their homes, is 'clearly associated' with use of e-cigarettes and tobacco products in parallel. 'We can see that in the adult population we don't observe any increase in smoking prevalence despite the war and hard economic and socio-economic circumstances,' he said. However, a trend for downward use among young people is changing, he explained. He described this as 'a mixed picture', saying they can now see 'a slight increase' in use of products such as heated tobacco and e-cigarettes. Their data showed this is linked to poly-use — people using tobacco products and e-cigarettes or heated tobacco. Read More Cork County Council likely to ban smoking and vaping at all its amenity areas
Irish Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Taoiseach Micheál Martin vows to come down even harder on sale of vapes
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has vowed that further legislation cracking down on vapes will be introduced to target flavoured and disposable products. He made the comments at the World Conference on Tobacco Control, which is taking place this week at the Dublin Convention Centre. Under plans devised by former health minister Stephen Donnelly, a new licensing system for the retail sale of tobacco products and nicotine-inhaling products such as e-cigarettes will be introduced in February 2026. This will enable retail outlets to obtain annual licences to sell these products. Despite Cabinet approving plans in September 2024 to ban disposable vapes and flavours, the Irish Mirror understands there is still no date for the implementation of the plans. A ban on disposable vapes came into effect in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK on June 1. The Taoiseach vowed on Monday that the legislation will be introduced and there will be a further crackdown on the products. Mr Martin said: 'I'm a very strong opponent of vapes and I have been from the beginning. 'There was very little due diligence done in terms of the composition of vapes and in terms of their impact on health. 'It's quite extraordinary that products of that kind got on the market and onto the shelves without any real health and safety analysis. That has always been my position. 'Any measures that reduce or eliminate vapes from the perspective of public health is a good thing. 'Ireland has made significant moves on that front. We will have significant restrictions coming in next February as a result of the legislation passed by the last Government. 'There is further legislation being planned in terms of the sale of disposable, the use of flavours, and I would see this as a continuation of measures that were adopted last year." He added: 'Certainly, I would favour the strongest possible measures against vaping. I spoke to [Former Chief Medical Adviser to the US President] Dr [Anthony] Fauci when he was in Dublin last year, and I spoke to a lot of public health experts. 'A lot of research has been undertaken now highlighting the dangers posed by vapes to the lungs of people and potential health conditions that can arise after use.'
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Irish Times
Nurses risked everything for us during the pandemic. Now many are abandoned to its awful legacy
It's not a question of if, but when. Scientists are warning that a new pandemic is lurking over the horizon poised to pounce on us. 'It's an epidemiological certainty,' says WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 'Are we ready for the next one?' asks everyone from Boston College and Johns Hopkins University to the Economist and the United Nations. 'No,' is the straight answer for this country. READ MORE Ireland's grubby treatment of its Covid-19 heroes will cause some frontline workers to think twice the next time before they risk their lives for the greater good. Specifically, the nurses – those people who did not have the luxury of working from home, who imperilled themselves by caring for the infected, who self-isolated while off duty and eschewed public transport to avoid transmitting the virus, who hesitated to touch their own children but held the hands of the dying when their families could not be with them in the final days of their lives and who then zipped them inside body bags and phoned their kin to inform them the one they loved had gone. They did it in terrifying circumstances under the claustrophobic weight of protective gowns, hairnets, shoe covers, gloves, face shields and masks. In the early days, the masks were the standard surgical type and sorely inadequate. There were no vaccines for the first 10 months. Nurses and other hospital workers saw colleagues fall ill and be taken away to ICU to be put on ventilators. More than 20 healthcare workers died from Covid. What thanks have they got for all that? A €1,000 crisis bonus that their union representatives had to beg for before it was eventually paid. [ My battle with long Covid: I was in disbelief. Was I making it up? How could I not stand up while the kettle boiled? Opens in new window ] To this day, there is a cohort of forgotten heroes whose abandonment brings shame on us all. They are the ones who went out and defended the barriers for the rest of us and now they are living with that awful legacy called long Covid. While normal life of honking traffic, construction sites, children in school uniforms, packed restaurants and pubs and big weddings has resumed outside their front door, they remain trapped in a post-pandemic freeze frame. Extreme fatigue, brain fog, weakened immunity, headaches, muscular pain, palpitations and shortness of breath have left them unable to go back to work. Some days, they cannot even get out of bed. One young nurse who was assigned to a Covid ward in a big Dublin hospital told me she has cardiac complications and has been on antibiotics four times in the past seven months. Another said she contracted Covid in January 2021, that zero hour following the Government's 'meaningful Christmas'. Four and a half years later, she is attending a long Covid clinic and is being treated by an infectious diseases consultant, a cardiac consultant, a GP and an occupational therapist. She is on daily medication for tachycardia (fast heart rate) as well as low-dose naltrexone (LDN), aspirin for micro-clots, painkillers and numerous supplements. [ The healthcare workers with long Covid: 'I'm living with the consequences of a 'meaningful Christmas'' Opens in new window ] She is one of 20 nurses with long Covid who are suing the HSE, the Department of Health and their employer hospitals for compensation. They issued the High Court proceedings two years ago. The State is fighting them. Simultaneously, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) was in the Labour Court last week seeking to extend a long Covid special payment scheme for public health workers who are still suffering the consequences. The scheme, which has been extended three times already following public controversy, is scheduled to expire on June 30th. Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has told the Dáil it will definitely be terminated this time. The departments of Social Protection and Public Expenditure maintain it is not possible to definitively identify the source of infection for each of the 120 nurses affected. The last time the State was so ruthlessly parsimonious was when Charlie Haughey precipitated the 1989 general election rather than sanction £400,000 compensation for 106 individuals who had been infected with the Aids virus by State-supplied blood. It's an attitude that brings to mind Oscar Wilde's definition of a fool as one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. An asinine State is one willing to pay €335,000 for a politicians' bike shelter but repays its true champions with the threat of impoverishment. Ireland and Greece are the only EU countries that do not recognise Covid and long Covid as an occupational illness for patient-facing workers If the special long Covid payment scheme ends in two weeks, its current recipients will be switched to the normal public service sick leave scheme. It means that for the first three months they will receive their basic wage – with no allowance made for the night-duty premiums and overtime many nurses rely on. They will get half their wage for the subsequent three months. With rents or mortgages to pay, their worry amid a national homelessness crisis raises the stress levels long Covid thrives on. During the pandemic, our cocooned communities gathered outside our homes in the grim lockdown evenings to applaud the country's frontline workers for caring for us. Even TDs stood in the Dáil chamber to clap. How would we have reacted had we known then that this would be the thanks they would get? 'It's gone from a round of applause to a middle finger from the Government,' said a nurse identified as Siobhán on RTÉ radio last year. Ireland and Greece are the only EU countries that do not recognise Covid and, ergo, long Covid as an occupational illness for patient-facing workers. That anomaly means nurses, doctors, porters, caterers, paramedics, fire fighters, gardaí and everyone else who contracted long Covid while protecting the rest of us are ineligible for occupational injury benefit payments. A Department of Social Protection report in November 2023 suggested that uncertainty about the condition's longevity in individual cases was a prohibitive factor. What a callous calculation that must be to ponder if you cannot get out of bed and don't know when you ever will. Our culture takes nurses for granted. We'll pat them on the head and call them our angels of mercy, because tokenism works when you are dealing with people motivated by a vocational duty to the greater good. They deserve better.
