Smoking, in addition to affecting the lungs in multiple ways, attacks the pancreas, kidneys, and digestive tract, among other organs.
Tobacco use in the world kills almost three times more in a year than the COVID-19 virus, it is one of the other pandemics facing health systems around the world. Smoking kills an average of eight million people a year, 10 percent of them considered passive smokers.
The Jalisco Health Secretariat (SSJ) through the State Council Against Addictions in Jalisco (CECAJ) commemorates World No Tobacco Day today; inviting smokers who wish to abandon that addiction to come to one of the 20 Primary Care Centers for Addictions that are counted throughout the State and begin to receive counseling and free psychological treatment to be able to quit tobacco.
When the general director of Professional Resources Generation and Research and Development of the SSJ, Eduardo Vázquez Valls, took the floor on behalf of the Jalisco Secretary of Health, Fernando Petersen Aranguren, he commented that addiction prevention actions should be focused on the population of young people considering that "in people under 20 years of age, the consumption of tobacco and alcohol has increased, from 7.1% to 12.1%."
The head of the CECAJ, Pedro Briones Casillas, explained that under the slogan "Commit to quitting," it seeks to create awareness to open healthier environments so that the smoking population abandons the harmful habit of tobacco, and to protect non-smokers.
"More than 70% of people who smoke have a desire to quit smoking, only 30% of those who start treatment can achieve it,” lamented the technical secretary of CECAJ, Pedro Briones Casillas.
He reminded the population that various institutions such as the IMSS and ISSSTE are creating clinics to stop smoking at all levels of care.
In the act carried out this morning respecting all health protocols, the representatives of 187 buildings were symbolically delivered the same number of certificates that endorse them as a 100 percent Tobacco Smoke-Free Space, distributed in 46 municipalities of Jalisco. It is estimated that this action will directly benefit 20,000 workers who work in these spaces, and 395,695 people who visit them on an outpatient basis.
The certification guarantees compliance with the General Law for Tobacco Control and its regulations, as well as the Law for the Protection of Non-smokers of the State of Jalisco.
Prior to the act of symbolic delivery of certificates, the conference "Harmful Interactions; COVID-19 and Nicotine," was given by the coordinator of teaching and research of the Regional Hospital "Valentín Gómez Farias" of the ISSSTE, Francisco del Río Hidalgo.
He called smoking and COVID-19 "two great genocides because they massively kill people, that in addition to being two highly lethal and parallel relevant pandemics, have a close correlation that affects people's lives.”
"The fact is that smoking increases the risk of becoming ill from SARS Cov-2 due to the alteration of the immune system, alteration of defense mechanisms, and the inflammatory processes, which together significantly predispose the development of the disease," explained Río Hidalgo .
Smoking, in addition to affecting the lungs in multiple ways, attacks the pancreas, kidneys, digestive tract, and at a neurological level it is especially damaging in developing children and adolescents. “The damage is cumulative and is related to the intensity of exposure and the period of prolonged condition,” explained the specialist.
The consumption of cigarette smoke causes more than 8 million deaths each year, of these 1.3 million are people who are exposed to second or third hand smoke. Of all those who smoke, 50% will die from a cause associated with the cigarette smoke. It is the only toxic substance that guarantees killing one in two of those who smoke, it can also kill someone who lives with the smoker.
For more information call the number 800 536 94 44, or go to the cecaj.jalisco.gob website listed below, or the organism's social networks.
SMOKING FACTS
99% of people say they know about the damage caused by tobacco smoke.
18 out of 100 people are smokers.
8.8% smoke daily, and on average consume 7.6 cigarettes per day.
70.7% of respondents are interested in quitting smoking.