The State District Sanitary Inspector in Bolesławiec informs that November 15 is World No Tobacco Day – observed annually on the third Thursday of November.
The idea originated in California, USA, in 1974, when smokers were encouraged to give up cigarettes for one day; in Poland, such campaigns have been held since 1991.
At the beginning of the 1990s, tobacco consumption in Poland was among the highest in the world. More than 100 billion cigarettes were sold annually. Since then, smoking levels have fallen by more than half, and in 2017 cigarette consumption amounted to approximately 40 billion cigarettes.
Since Poles began quitting smoking on a mass scale, the incidence and mortality rates of diseases causally linked to cigarettes have been falling sharply, including lung cancer, heart attacks and COPD – chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Among men aged 20–64, the lung cancer mortality rate fell by more than half between 1990 and 2017.
However, we are still at the beginning of the journey toward health. Approximately 8 million Polish women and men still smoke cigarettes. The “Health Promotion” Foundation, which runs the “Quit Smoking Together with Us” campaign, and Professor Witold Zatoński, MD, PhD, propose making families expecting a child the subject of this year’s World No Tobacco Day.
Children should be absolutely protected from cigarette smoke. A study conducted in 1990, covering all women giving birth in the Olsztyn, Białystok and Poznań voivodeships, showed that nearly 30% of women smoked during pregnancy. In 2017, 27 years later, a study conducted on a nationwide sample found that only approximately 6% of women smoked. On the one hand, the progress in combating smoking among pregnant women in Poland is remarkable; on the other hand, 6% of women smoking during pregnancy still means approximately 25,000 newborns directly exposed to tobacco smoke in the womb.
Why should you not smoke during pregnancy?
Scientific studies have shown that more than 50% of the carcinogenic substances found in cigarette smoke pass through the placenta and enter the child’s body. (They have been detected, among other places, in the first urine passed by the child after birth.)
These children are always born smaller, less prepared for life and at risk of many smoking-related diseases, such as cancer and asthma.
Additional exposure to tobacco smoke and passive smoking occurs when family members smoke at home.
The Sanitary Inspection in Bolesławiec initiates, coordinates and implements programs to reduce the health consequences of tobacco smoking in Bolesławiec County.
What do you think? Will you try to quit smoking today? We invite you to join the discussion.