Tomorrow, May 31, marks World No Tobacco Day under the slogan “Let Health Be Your Prize, Don’t Fall for Smoke”

The events will conclude on Sunday with the 3rd No Tobacco Week Race, taking place at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 31, marks the celebration of World No Tobacco Day under the slogan “Let health be your prize, don’t fall for smoke”, which aligns with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2024 theme: to expose and counter the tactics used by the tobacco industry to make its products seem appealing, especially to young people.

Throughout this past week, the Ministry of Health, through the Directorates-General for Public Health and Mental Health, which includes the Addictions Plan of the Balearic Islands, has organised a series of awareness and information campaigns aimed at helping the public understand the health risks associated with tobacco products.

Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of disease and death worldwide. It is well documented that exposure to tobacco smoke causes health problems similar to those caused by direct smoking.

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The Balearic Islands Join No Tobacco Week

Diseases

Tobacco use is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and respiratory illnesses:

• It is responsible for 90% of deaths due to lung cancer.
• It causes 95% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• It accounts for 50% of deaths from cardiovascular causes.
• It causes 30% of deaths from all types of cancer.

Statistics

According to the latest EDADES 2023/2024 survey (population aged 16 to 64), while smoking among men has dropped by almost 9 percentage points compared to the 2020/2022 survey, it has increased by more than one point among women. Daily smoking prevalence is 25.8% for men and 22.2% for women. The typical smoker is a 41.3-year-old man who started smoking at 17.5 years and smokes 11.3 cigarettes per day.

The ESTUDES 2022/2023 survey (student population aged 14 to 18) shows that 6.9% smoke daily and 36.8% live in households where smoking occurs every day. Some 34.5% have tried smoking at least once in their life (31.5% in 2021); 22.2% have smoked in the last 30 days (19.8% men / 24.5% women).

In the last 30 days, 27.4% of students have smoked, 20 percentage points higher than in 2020.

As for e-cigarettes, one out of every two students aged 14 to 18 in the Balearic Islands (53.9%) has used a vape at least once. This percentage is five points higher among girls (51.3% for boys and 56.3% for girls). Since 2020, this figure has risen by 14.6 percentage points (23.5 points among girls).

The WHO estimates that in the 2020–2030 decade, tobacco will be responsible for 10 million deaths per year. A single cigarette contains over 4,500 chemicals, at least 40 of which are carcinogenic. Tobacco-derived products like e-cigarettes also contain harmful substances such as glycerin, propylene glycol, nicotine, and heavy metals in varying quantities.

Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable disease and death. It results from breathing in air contaminated with tobacco smoke, exposing non-smokers to the same toxic substances that enter the lungs of smokers.