Madrid (EFE).- Queen Letizia has opted this Wednesday to bring together the European social movement so that tobacco ceases to be the first public health problem and has stressed that “smoking is not a habit, it is a disease” and it is forced to help people who suffer from it.
In the inauguration speech of the ninth edition of the European Conference ‘Tobacco or Health’, which for three days brings together international defenders of smoking control and prevention in Madrid, the queen has insisted that tobacco and new products without Combustion produce very serious diseases, which is why he has appealed to continue “taking steps towards prevention”.
It is, said the queen, “primary prevention, that is, reducing the incidence of smoking through changes in the risk factors associated with the development of this disease.”
“You have to review what you know”
And it is that, the queen has recalled that the increase in the price of tobacco reduces consumption and the costs of illness associated with its consumption (labor, health care, medication, disability and loss of productivity) are three times greater than the tax collection generated by industry.
Therefore, he insisted, it is about “reviewing what is known and continuing to take steps.”
The queen has also valued the focus of this ninth conference that places young people in a leading role in this movement so that tobacco is not the leading cause of preventable death in the world.
“Those of us who have been young and, on many occasions, unaware of the risk associated with the consumption of tobacco and nicotine products, would have wanted to have all the information and all that ability to perceive the reality that you do have today,” he pointed out.
“I’m sure none of you here would go to the cafeteria to order a cocktail of ammonia, cadmium, tar, acrolein, carbon monoxide, acetone, arsenic, hydrogen cyanide, nicotine, and formaldehyde, among other ingredients, right? ?” The queen added before an audience of scientists, doctors, researchers and public health experts.
Finally, the queen has emphasized that addressing the “tobacco epidemic” requires “intelligence and a coordinated strategy” that integrates prevention, legislative and assistance measures and control policies that have the potential to reduce its impact on health and has reiterated that “prevention is the culture of life”.