Latest news with #EuropeanSchoolSurveyProjectonAlcoholandOtherDrugs
Euronews
4 days ago
- Health
- Euronews
EU Commission faces rising pressure to tax vapes and nicotine pouches
The EU is under growing pressure to tax vapes and nicotine pouches, with 15 finance and economy ministers writing last week to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about the issue. The letter was part of a wider push for the Commission to publish the long-awaited Tobacco Taxation Directive (TTD). Citing health concerns, the ministers said the existing legislative framework is outdated. Since the rules were last updated in 2011, new nicotine products have flooded the market. A revision to include new tobacco and nicotine products like e-cigarettes and heated tobacco was introduced as part of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan in 2022. However, the proposal has still not been published, much to the concern of health experts. "We see that because these products are not taxed properly in the EU — some countries are not taxing them or barely imposing taxes — they became very accessible and not just to adults, but to children. And that's the reason why revision of the directive is urgent now," said Lilia Olefir, Director of the Smoke Free Partnership. The latest European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), published at the end of May, reports a rise in overall daily rates of smoking and vaping among 15-year-olds and 16-year-olds from 7.9% in 2019 to 14% in 2024. Studies have found children and adolescents' exposure to nicotine in vaping solutions can lead to long-term negative impacts on brain development, as well as addiction. Momentum for action is growing. In March 2025, a letter from 12 health ministers urged the Commission to re-visit all tobacco-related legislation, including taxation. Last week, 15 finance and economy ministers wrote to von der Leyen, calling on the EU Commission president to "take the necessary steps to update the directive". In response, Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, who is responsible for taxation, expressed hope that the rules would soon be changed. The new directive would substantially raise taxes on cigarettes, roll your own cigarettes and cigars. It would also for the first time introduce minimum excise tax on new products including heated tobacco, e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches. "These taxes are fundamental because they result in higher prices, which means that the products are less affordable and less accessible," said Olefir. "Right now, people can buy disposable vape for around eight euros, and nicotine pouches are also quite accessible." Some EU countries have in the meantime taken their own measures to target these products. Belgium, for example, became the first in Europe to ban the sale of disposable vapes in 2025. The country's Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke described cheap vapes as a health threat, which can draw teenagers into smoking and get them hooked on nicotine. Hoekstra told MEPs that he hoped the new tax proposal would be adopted by the summer. However, the proposal requires unanimity, which seems a long way off. The plan has large support in wealthier countries, where excise taxes on tobacco and nicotine products are already relatively high. Because of differences in these rates, they are suffering from rising smuggling and cross-border trade. Meanwhile, countries like Italy, Greece and Romania, which have lower tax levels, are against any changes to the current rules. They have also made significant investments in the tobacco sector. Organisations representing industries that would be affected by the revised directive have also criticised the current proposal. Dustin Dahlmann, the chair of the Independent European Vape Alliance, claimed that introducing taxes would not help protect young people. Instead, he argued that fines should be increased for people selling to minors. "The tax will make the products more attractive for black market dealers and these kinds of people and businesses don't care about protecting the minors," he said. "In the member states where high taxes are in place, it's fuelling the black market. Minors are not better protected here than in other countries," he added. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday that the UK will build 12 new attack submarines and six new ammunition factories as part of a Strategic Defence Review. The externally-led review outlines 62 recommendations, which the government endorsed in full, including moving the Armed Forces into a state of "warfighting readiness". "When we are being directly threatened by states with advanced military forces, the most effective way to deter them is to be ready, and frankly, to show them that we're ready to deliver peace through strength," Starmer said in Glasgow on Monday. The review, he added, is "a blueprint to make Britain safer and stronger, a battle-ready, bomber-clad nation with the strongest alliances and the most advanced capabilities, equipped for the decades to come". The 12 new conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines will be built as part of the AUKUS programme concluded in 2021 between Australia, the UK, and the US and should all be online by the late 2030s with one built every 18 months, per Starmer. The programme will be accompanied by a £15 billion (€17.8 billion) investment in nuclear warheads. Another key plank of the review is the procurement of up to 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons, along with a £1.5 billion (€1.8 billion) investment to build at least six munitions and energetics factories. One of these production capacities is expected to be "always on" to allow for production to be ramped up quickly to meet the demand of high-tempo warfare, if necessary. "The hard-fought lessons from Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine show a military is only as strong as the industry that stands behind them," Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement. "We are strengthening the UK's industrial base to better deter our adversaries and make the UK secure at home and strong abroad," he added. The government will also put forward £1 billion (€1.2 billion) in a new CyberEM Command to boost cyber operations and digital capability, as well as £1.5 billion of additional funding to repair and renew armed forces housing. The investments should make some way into Britain's goal, unveiled earlier this year, to boost defence spending to 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product by 2027 and to 3% in the next parliament. Britain, a NATO member, will on Wednesday co-chair a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, which aims to coordinate military support to Ukraine in response to Russia's full-scale invasion involving 56 countries. Defence ministers from the alliance will meet on Thursday to continue talks on increasing the defence spending target from its current 2% of GDP level. Allies appear to have landed on a 5% of GDP target, a number repeatedly called for by Trump, although it would be split in two: 3.5% of GDP for hard military spending, and a further 1.5% on defence-related spending including, for instance, infrastructure and cybersecurity. The new target will be endorsed by NATO at a summit in The Hague later this month. Starmer defended his aim to bring defence spending to 3% in the next parliament, therefore below the 3.5% by 2032 that NATO is set to agree on. "Everything we do will add to the strength of NATO," he said. "The NATO alliance means something profound, that we will never fight alone. It is a fundamental source of our strategic strength". The transformation we're driving in our defence must add up to Britain's biggest contribution to NATO since its creation," he added.
Euronews
22-05-2025
- Health
- Euronews
Meet the company leveraging AI-backed physics tools for drug discovery
Europe's teenagers are increasingly picking up e-cigarettes and turning down drugs and alcohol, according to a new analysis on students' habits across the continent. The new report, known as the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), included nearly 114,000 students aged 15 and 16 across 37 European countries. It has tracked trends in European teens' drug use, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, and more for 30 years. Here's how teenagers stacked up in 2024. While smoking rates have fallen since the 1990s, the likelihood that preteen girls smoke on a daily basis has risen in recent years, the analysis found. E-cigarette use is also continuing to climb, with 44 per cent of students having tried e‑cigarettes at least once and 22 per cent saying they vape regularly, up from 14 per cent five years earlier. Most teens say vapes are easy to get, and the trend is "fuelling concerns over the dual use of traditional and electronic cigarettes and reflecting a broader shift toward alternative nicotine products," the report said. Notably, alcohol seems to be getting less popular, with both overall consumption and binge drinking falling over the past two decades. However, heavy drinking among teens remains a problem in some regions, with the highest rates in Denmark (55 per cent), Germany (49 per cent), and Austria (48 per cent). Adolescents are also drinking at younger ages, the report found. About three in four students have tried alcohol, and one in three had their first drink at age 13 or younger. In 2024, 12 per cent of students had tried cannabis – making it the most commonly used illegal drug in Europe, despite the fact that this is the lowest level recorded since 1995. Teen boys are generally more likely to use cannabis than girls, but that gap is narrowing. Cocaine and ecstasy (also known as MDMA) are the next-most popular illegal drugs, with about 2 per cent of students ever having tried them, followed by LSD or other hallucinogens and amphetamines. Overall, 13 per cent of teenagers have tried illegal drugs at least once, and that prevalence has slowly fallen since around 2015. However, there are big differences between countries, with rates ranging from 3.9 per cent in Georgia and Moldova to 25 per cent in Liechtenstein. Notably, European students are increasingly taking prescription drugs for non-medical reasons; 8.5 per cent have tried tranquillisers and sedatives, while 6.9 per cent have taken painkillers to get high, the analysis shows. Four in five teens play video games at least once per month – but gaming is no longer dominated by teen boys, the report found. While boys are still more likely to be gamers, girls' gaming prevalence has more than tripled since 2015, rising from 22 per cent to 71 per cent last year. On the flip side, girls are also more likely to use social media in a way they view as problematic – but boys have seen a bigger increase in harmful social media use over the past decade. Overall, nearly half of students reported problematic social media use in 2024. Nearly one in four teens has gambled for money in the past year, including playing slot machines, lotteries, card or dice games, or placing bets on sports or animal races. Most of this gambling takes place in person, though 65 per cent of teen gamblers do it online. Boys are more likely to gamble than girls, though there is also wide variation among countries. Gambling rates range from 9.5 per cent in Georgia to 45 per cent in Italy. "Although many European countries have adopted stricter gambling regulations in recent years, with a heightened focus on protecting minors, gambling among European adolescents has remained stable," the report said. A startup in France is leveraging artificial intelligence-backed physics principles in the hope of speeding up the process of making new drugs. Currently, developing a new medicine takes a company 10 to 15 years on average, with research conducted in a lab environment – and a lot of trial and error before they enter multiple stages of human clinical trials. It's also an expensive process, with only 10 to 20 per cent of experimental drugs in clinical trials eventually being approved. Those are problems the France-based Aqemia is trying to solve. The company, founded in 2019 by quantum physics researcher Maximilien Levesque and Emmanuelle Martiano, a former consultant for Boston Consulting Group, aims to use artificial intelligence (AI) to more efficiently create new molecules for drugs that treat cancers of the head, neck, and chest, such as lung cancer. It wants to "develop medicine faster in a frugal and accurate way," Dr Véronique Birault, Aqemia's vice president of translational sciences, told Euronews Health at the company's new London hub, which opened in January. To do so, Aqemia is using both AI and fundamental physics, which Levesque worked on during his academic career. Many healthcare companies are turning to AI tools in the drug discovery process, but they usually need to be trained on a large corpus of data – which doesn't always exist for these new molecules, according to Levesque. For example, "there aren't billions and billions and billions of drugs for chest cancer" that the AI models could be trained on, Levesque told Euronews Health. Instead of feeding their AI model with raw data, the team feeds it the rules of physics at the level of atoms and molecules tied to specific diseases. That includes a mathematical equation that Levesque solved, which the team says can be leveraged to identify "better molecules" that are "more effective". "It's as if, rather than swallowing lists of numbers, you had a maths teacher teaching you how to count," Levesque added. Aqemia isn't the only company betting on AI for drug discovery. Worldwide, 10 major pharmaceutical companies have signed more than 130 deals for AI collaborations since 2021. AI models can quickly analyse datasets to uncover patterns, helping scientists predict which molecules are linked to certain diseases and identifying promising drug candidates for new drugs or treatments. To some extent, they can also help forecast how people will respond to new drugs. For example, Google's AlphaFold system – which won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024 – uses AI to predict a protein's 3D structure and how it will interact with other molecules. Aqemia has signed partnerships with pharmaceutical giants like Sanofi, Servier, and Johnson & Johnson to research potential new drugs, Levesque said. But he cautioned that even as the company works on speeding up the molecular development phase, it can't influence the clinical development stage, which takes an average of nine years. Some research indicates that may also be changing. A handful of AI-discovered molecules are in early stage trials, with cancer-related drugs making up about half of those in phase one and phase two studies. Aqemia could be part of the next wave. "Our internal programmes are progressing and we already have programmes showing efficacy and non-toxicity on mice with cancer," he said. The company hopes to launch clinical trials testing new molecules in late 2026 or early 2027. Stripped of US funding, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief asked member countries to support its "extremely modest" budget request by comparing it to the cost of war or outlays for ad campaigns for tobacco. After nearly 80 years of striving to improve human lives and health – which critics say it has done poorly or not enough – the United Nations health agency is fighting for its own after US President Donald Trump halted funding from the United States, which has traditionally been WHO's largest donor. The WHO wants $4.2 billion (€3.7 billion) for its next budget cycle, equating to $2.1 billion per year (€1.8 billion). The annual sum is "the equivalent of global military expenditure every eight hours," WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "And $2.1 billion [€1.8 billion] is one-quarter of what the tobacco industry spends on advertising and promotion every single year. Again, a product that kills people," he told the WHO's annual assembly in Geneva. "It seems somebody switched the price tags on what is truly valuable in our world". Tedros made no specific reference to the US cuts but has said previously that the pullout was a "mistake" and urged Washington, which did not send a delegation to the assembly, to reconsider. WHO has presented a budget for the next two years that is 22 per cent less than originally planned, largely in response to US and other Western funding cuts, and says it has landed commitments for about 60 per cent of that. But it still faces a budget gap of $1.7 billion (€1.5 billion). "We know that in the current landscape,** mobilising that sum will be a challenge," Tedros said,** though he called the request "extremely modest" given the organisation's on-the-ground work in 150 countries. As a result of the cuts, the WHO has seen a plunge in its ability to carry out its sweeping mandate to do everything from recommend reductions in sugar levels in soft drinks to head the global response to pandemics like COVID-19 or outbreaks like polio or Ebola. Tedros and his team have been grappling with a response to the US cuts as well as reduced outlays from wealthy European countries that are worried about an expansionist Russia and are putting more money toward defence, and less toward humanitarian and development aid. Matthew Kavanagh, the director of Georgetown University's Center for Global Health Policy and Politics in the US, said other countries have used the US cut in aid "as cover to do their maneuvering, with many countries in Europe reducing aid". "Literally millions will likely die needlessly on the current trajectory, and the world's health ministers do not seem capable of a coherent response," Kavanagh added. Trump has long derided WHO, including back in his first term when he pulled the US out over its alleged kowtowing to China and other alleged missteps in the COVID-19 pandemic. After former President Joe Biden reversed the decision, Trump again said he would withdraw the US from the organisation on his first day back in office in January. Other opponents continue to lash out at WHO. CitizenGo, an activist group that supports right-to-life and religious liberty issues, protested Monday outside the UN compound in Geneva where WHO's meeting was taking place. The rally included an image of Tedros and billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, a major WHO supporter, shaking hands while surrounded by dollars. In the run-up to the assembly, WHO has been cleaning the house and cutting costs. At a meeting on its budget last week, Tedros – a former Ethiopian health and foreign minister – announced a shake-up of top management that included the exit of key adviser Dr Michael Ryan from the job as emergencies chief. Tedros said last week that the loss of US funds and other assistance has left the WHO with a salary gap of more than $500 million (€440 million).
Euronews
22-05-2025
- Health
- Euronews
Biden team says diagnosis only made in last week amid Trump criticism
Former US President Joe Biden's "last known" prostate cancer screening was in 2014, and he had never been diagnosed with the disease before last week, according to his office. Biden's aides released the new details about his diagnosis amid intense scrutiny of his health during his presidency, and scepticism that the disease could have progressed to an advanced stage without being detected. Although Biden's cancer can possibly be controlled with treatment, it has spread to his bones and is no longer curable. The brief statement from Biden's office did not disclose the results of his 2014 prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. "Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer," the statement said. Biden's cancer was announced on Sunday, prompting a wave of sympathy but also suggestions from some of his critics, including his predecessor and now successor Donald Trump, that the former president and his aides covered up the disease while he was in the White House given the severity of the cancer when it was announced. Tuesday's statement appeared aimed at tamping down that speculation. Asked about Biden during an appearance at the White House, Trump said, "it takes a long time to get to that situation" and that he was "surprised that the public wasn't notified a long time ago". "It's a very sad situation and I feel very badly about it," Trump said. A memo from the White House physician released following Trump's annual physical exam in April listed a normal PSA. Biden's White House doctor did not include PSA results in the health summaries he released. Screening with PSA blood tests can lead to unnecessary treatment with side effects that affect quality of life, and guidelines recommend against prostate cancer screening for men 70 and older. Biden is 82. When caught early, prostate cancer is highly survivable, but it is also the second-leading cause of cancer death in men. About two in five teenagers in Europe are struggling with their mental well-being, a new analysis has found, with girls faring worse than boys in each of the 37 countries included. Young people today face a host of stressors, including social isolation and disruptions to their schooling caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as socioeconomic instability and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, according to the report, known as the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The study, which has been following teens' alcohol, smoking, and drug habits for 30 years, included nearly 114,000 students aged 15 and 16 across 37 European countries. For the first time in 2024, the report assessed their mental health as well. To track teens' mental well-being, the survey asked students how their lives have been going lately; for example, how often they feel cheerful, wake up feeling fresh, and how interested they are in their daily lives. The researchers converted those answers into an index score; students who scored above 50 out of 100 on the index were considered to have good mental well-being. Overall, 59 per cent of teenagers met that threshold. But there were major regional differences across Europe, with teens in Nordic countries doing fairly well and those in Central and Eastern Europe faring worse. Teenagers in the Danish territory of the Faroe Islands were the most likely to report good mental well-being (77 per cent), followed by Iceland (75 per cent), and Denmark (72 per cent). Meanwhile, teenagers in Ukraine reported the worst mental health, with just 43 per cent classified as doing well. Ukrainian adolescents have limited access to mental health care, the report noted, leaving them to grapple with war-related trauma largely on their own. The next-lowest rates of mental well-being were recorded in the Czech Republic (46 per cent), Hungary (47 per cent), Cyprus and Poland (49 per cent each). 'Mental health is deeply connected to the broader social environments in which young people grow up,' Kadri Soova, director of the advocacy group Mental Health Europe, told Euronews Health. She was not involved with the study. Girls were worse off than boys in each of the 37 countries studied. Across Europe, 49 per cent of girls and 69 per cent of boys report good mental health. The gender gaps were even more stark in some countries. In Italy and Poland, for example, about two-thirds of boys report good mental health, compared with one-third of girls. In Sweden, the relatively high rate of teenage well-being overall (62 per cent) masks gender differences. About four in five boys had good mental well-being, compared with less than half of girls. The poorer outcomes among girls 'signals the urgent need for targeted, context-sensitive responses,' Soova said. Europe is not the only region grappling with a rising toll of mental health problems among youth. Over the past decade, the rate of young people with mental health disorders has risen in every part of the world, according to a recent analysis from the Lancet medical journal. Soova called on policymakers to invest in mental health education and accessible support for young people. 'By addressing both traditional and emerging challenges from substance use to online risks, we can build environments where all adolescents have the opportunity to thrive in dignity and well-being,' she said. If you are contemplating suicide and need to talk, please reach out to Befrienders Worldwide, an international organisation with helplines in 32 countries. Visit to find the telephone number for your location.
Euronews
22-05-2025
- Health
- Euronews
Where in Europe do teens have the best and worst mental health?
About two in five teenagers in Europe are struggling with their mental well-being, a new analysis has found, with girls faring worse than boys in each of the 37 countries included. Young people today face a host of stressors, including social isolation and disruptions to their schooling caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as socioeconomic instability and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, according to the report, known as the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The study, which has been following teens' alcohol, smoking, and drug habits for 30 years, included nearly 114,000 students aged 15 and 16 across 37 European countries. For the first time in 2024, the report assessed their mental health as well. To track teens' mental well-being, the survey asked students how their lives have been going lately; for example, how often they feel cheerful, wake up feeling fresh, and how interested they are in their daily lives. The researchers converted those answers into an index score; students who scored above 50 out of 100 on the index were considered to have good mental well-being. Overall, 59 per cent of teenagers met that threshold. But there were major regional differences across Europe, with teens in Nordic countries doing fairly well and those in Central and Eastern Europe faring worse. Teenagers in the Danish territory of the Faroe Islands were the most likely to report good mental well-being (77 per cent), followed by Iceland (75 per cent), and Denmark (72 per cent). Meanwhile, teenagers in Ukraine reported the worst mental health, with just 43 per cent classified as doing well. Ukrainian adolescents have limited access to mental health care, the report noted, leaving them to grapple with war-related trauma largely on their own. The next-lowest rates of mental well-being were recorded in the Czech Republic (46 per cent), Hungary (47 per cent), Cyprus and Poland (49 per cent each). 'Mental health is deeply connected to the broader social environments in which young people grow up,' Kadri Soova, director of the advocacy group Mental Health Europe, told Euronews Health. She was not involved with the study. Girls were worse off than boys in each of the 37 countries studied. Across Europe, 49 per cent of girls and 69 per cent of boys report good mental health. The gender gaps were even more stark in some countries. In Italy and Poland, for example, about two-thirds of boys report good mental health, compared with one-third of girls. In Sweden, the relatively high rate of teenage well-being overall (62 per cent) masks gender differences. About four in five boys had good mental well-being, compared with less than half of girls. The poorer outcomes among girls 'signals the urgent need for targeted, context-sensitive responses,' Soova said. Europe is not the only region grappling with a rising toll of mental health problems among youth. Over the past decade, the rate of young people with mental health disorders has risen in every part of the world, according to a recent analysis from the Lancet medical journal. Soova called on policymakers to invest in mental health education and accessible support for young people. 'By addressing both traditional and emerging challenges from substance use to online risks, we can build environments where all adolescents have the opportunity to thrive in dignity and well-being,' she said. If you are contemplating suicide and need to talk, please reach out to Befrienders Worldwide, an international organisation with helplines in 32 countries. Visit to find the telephone number for your location. West Nile virus has been detected in mosquitoes in the United Kingdom for the first time, as rising temperatures raise the risk that vector-borne diseases will become more common in Europe. There have been no human infections in the UK so far, and the risk to the general public is "very low," according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). But the agency is ramping up surveillance and advising doctors to test certain patients whose health issues could be linked to the virus. Fragments of West Nile virus were found in two groups of mosquitoes collected in wetlands in Nottinghamshire in July 2023, the agency said. Another 198 pools of mosquito samples collected in the same area tested negative for the virus. "While this is the first detection of West Nile virus in mosquitoes in the UK so far, it is not unexpected as the virus is already widespread in Europe," Dr Meera Chand, UKHSA's deputy director for travel health, zoonoses, emerging infections, respiratory and tuberculosis, said in a statement. West Nile, which is in the same family of viruses as dengue and yellow fever, is often found in birds and spreads through mosquito bites. People can also be infected, though about 80 per cent will have no symptoms. The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1937, and it's commonly found in Africa, the Middle East, North America, and West Asia. It has appeared more frequently in northern and western Europe in recent years as warmer weather tied to climate change makes the region more hospitable for mosquitoes. "The detection of West Nile virus in the UK is part of a wider changing landscape, where, in the wake of climate change mosquito-borne diseases are expanding to new areas," Dr Arran Folly, an arbovirologist at the UK's Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), said in a statement. In places where West Nile virus is more common, people tend to be infected in the summer months. Most people either have no or mild, flu-like symptoms, but in rare cases it can lead to neurological issues, such as brain swelling or meningitis. In light of the virus' detection in the UK, doctors are being advised "as a precaution" to run additional tests on people with unexplained brain swelling, or encephalitis, the UKHSA said. There is no vaccine or targeted treatment for West Nile virus. James Logan, a professor of medical entomology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, called on public health and veterinary authorities to boost their surveillance to "stay one step ahead" of the virus. "This is a moment to recognise that the UK is no longer immune to some diseases once considered 'tropical,'" Logan said in a statement. "We are entering an era where we must learn to live smarter in a bug's world".
Euronews
21-05-2025
- Health
- Euronews
Europe's teens are turning to vapes instead of taking drugs or alcohol
Europe's teenagers are increasingly picking up e-cigarettes and turning down drugs and alcohol, according to a new analysis on students' habits across the continent. The new report, known as the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), included nearly 114,000 students aged 15 and 16 across 37 European countries. It has tracked trends in European teens' drug use, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, and more for 30 years. Here's how teenagers stacked up in 2024. While smoking rates have fallen since the 1990s, the likelihood that preteen girls smoke on a daily basis has risen in recent years, the analysis found. E-cigarette use is also continuing to climb, with 44 per cent of students having tried e‑cigarettes at least once and 22 per cent saying they vape regularly, up from 14 per cent five years earlier. Most teens say vapes are easy to get, and the trend is 'fuelling concerns over the dual use of traditional and electronic cigarettes and reflecting a broader shift toward alternative nicotine products,' the report said. Notably, alcohol seems to be getting less popular, with both overall consumption and binge drinking falling over the past two decades. However, heavy drinking among teens remains a problem in some regions, with the highest rates in Denmark (55 per cent), Germany (49 per cent), and Austria (48 per cent). Adolescents are also drinking at younger ages, the report found. About three in four students have tried alcohol, and one in three had their first drink at age 13 or younger. In 2024, 12 per cent of students had tried cannabis – making it the most commonly used illegal drug in Europe, despite the fact that this is the lowest level recorded since 1995. Teen boys are generally more likely to use cannabis than girls, but that gap is narrowing. Cocaine and ecstasy (also known as MDMA) are the next-most popular illegal drugs, with about 2 per cent of students ever having tried them, followed by LSD or other hallucinogens and amphetamines. Overall, 13 per cent of teenagers have tried illegal drugs at least once, and that prevalence has slowly fallen since around 2015. However, there are big differences between countries, with rates ranging from 3.9 per cent in Georgia and Moldova to 25 per cent in Liechtenstein. Notably, European students are increasingly taking prescription drugs for non-medical reasons; 8.5 per cent have tried tranquillisers and sedatives, while 6.9 per cent have taken painkillers to get high, the analysis shows. Four in five teens play video games at least once per month – but gaming is no longer dominated by teen boys, the report found. While boys are still more likely to be gamers, girls' gaming prevalence has more than tripled since 2015, rising from 22 per cent to 71 per cent last year. On the flip side, girls are also more likely to use social media in a way they view as problematic – but boys have seen a bigger increase in harmful social media use over the past decade. Overall, nearly half of students reported problematic social media use in 2024. Nearly one in four teens have gambled for money in the past year, including playing slot machines, lotteries, card or dice games, or placing bets on sports or animal races. Most of this gambling takes place in person, though 65 per cent of teen gamblers do it online. Boys are more likely to gamble than girls, though there is also wide variation among countries. Gambling rates range from 9.5 per cent in Georgia to 45 per cent in Italy. 'Although many European countries have adopted stricter gambling regulations in recent years, with a heightened focus on protecting minors, gambling among European adolescents has remained stable,' the report said. Stripped of US funding, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief asked member countries to support its "extremely modest" budget request by comparing it to the cost of war or outlays for ad campaigns for tobacco. After nearly 80 years of striving to improve human lives and health – which critics say it has done poorly or not enough – the United Nations health agency is fighting for its own after US President Donald Trump halted funding from the United States, which has traditionally been WHO's largest donor. The WHO wants $4.2 billion (€3.7 billion) for its next budget cycle, equating to $2.1 billion per year (€1.8 billion). The annual sum is "the equivalent of global military expenditure every eight hours," WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "And $2.1 billion [€1.8 billion] is one-quarter of what the tobacco industry spends on advertising and promotion every single year. Again, a product that kills people," he told the WHO's annual assembly in Geneva. "It seems somebody switched the price tags on what is truly valuable in our world". Tedros made no specific reference to the US cuts but has said previously that the pullout was a "mistake" and urged Washington, which did not send a delegation to the assembly, to reconsider. WHO has presented a budget for the next two years that is 22 per cent less than originally planned, largely in response to US and other Western funding cuts, and says it has landed commitments for about 60 per cent of that. But it still faces a budget gap of $1.7 billion (€1.5 billion). "We know that in the current landscape,** mobilising that sum will be a challenge," Tedros said,** though he called the request "extremely modest" given the organisation's on-the-ground work in 150 countries. As a result of the cuts, the WHO has seen a plunge in its ability to carry out its sweeping mandate to do everything from recommend reductions in sugar levels in soft drinks to head the global response to pandemics like COVID-19 or outbreaks like polio or Ebola. Tedros and his team have been grappling with a response to the US cuts as well as reduced outlays from wealthy European countries that are worried about an expansionist Russia and are putting more money toward defence, and less toward humanitarian and development aid. Matthew Kavanagh, the director of Georgetown University's Center for Global Health Policy and Politics in the US, said other countries have used the US cut in aid "as cover to do their maneuvering, with many countries in Europe reducing aid". "Literally millions will likely die needlessly on the current trajectory, and the world's health ministers do not seem capable of a coherent response," Kavanagh added. Trump has long derided WHO, including back in his first term when he pulled the US out over its alleged kowtowing to China and other alleged missteps in the COVID-19 pandemic. After former President Joe Biden reversed the decision, Trump again said he would withdraw the US from the organisation on his first day back in office in January. Other opponents continue to lash out at WHO. CitizenGo, an activist group that supports right-to-life and religious liberty issues, protested Monday outside the UN compound in Geneva where WHO's meeting was taking place. The rally included an image of Tedros and billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, a major WHO supporter, shaking hands while surrounded by dollars. In the run-up to the assembly, WHO has been cleaning the house and cutting costs. At a meeting on its budget last week, Tedros – a former Ethiopian health and foreign minister – announced a shake-up of top management that included the exit of key adviser Dr Michael Ryan from the job as emergencies chief. Tedros said last week that the loss of US funds and other assistance has left the WHO with a salary gap of more than $500 million (€440 million).
