Tobacco experts warn that the glamor that traditional tobacco use has lost is being instilled in it by the tobacco industry, above all through social networks and video-on-demand platforms, vaporization and electronic cigarettes.
“The industry itself, which sees how limits are placed on the consumption of traditional tobacco, exploits the image of the stinking smoker to promote other products capable of releasing nicotine that are sold as less harmful, as an alternative to quit smoking or to do it without smoke, without smell bad and without staining the teeth”, agree the psychologist Blanca Benito and the president of Nofumadores.org, Raquel Fernández.
And they warn that this message is getting through, especially among adolescents, and that this increases the risk that they will end up hooked on tobacco, both due to acquiring the habit and because many of the supposedly "nicotine-free" vaping products contain it in quantities small, but enough to be the gateway to addiction. As there is no specific regulation for the sale of vaping products, minors have them within their reach even in candy stores that sell disposable strawberry and other flavored devices.
According to a study presented yesterday by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), nine out of ten young people between the ages of 16 and 21 are regularly exposed to "digital smoke", messages that generate desirability and normalize the consumption of new products. of tobacco, such as vaporizers.
And that contributes not only to 40% using them, but also to improving the image they have of tobacco. Among the 1,730 adolescents surveyed by the AECC, one in four believe that the harmful effects are exaggerated, 44% that it makes them interesting, 45% that it helps them in complicated situations and 36% that it makes it easier to make friends or flirt.
In addition, six out of ten acknowledge that vaping and e-cigarettes are in fashion because they are done by actors, streamers and influencers, 53% think it is better to vape because it does not leave bad odors, 51% because they believe it is easier to quit and 37.6% think that it is a way of sharing experiences with friends.
The problem, as explained by the AECC technicians who carried out the study, is that it is found that the use of these devices predisposes to smoking. Among those who have never smoked, only one in ten say they would like to smoke tobacco. Among those who vape, three out of ten. And the advertising pressure for them to do it is great. 74.6% of those surveyed remember having seen someone smoking traditional cigarettes on platforms and social networks, and 76% someone vaping, while in the family environment only 38% have someone who smokes tobacco and 16% someone who steams
