Good morning. Welcome to Madrid for the 9th European Conference on Tobacco or Health. Thank you very much to the Association of European Cancer Leagues for choosing Spain for this conference and also to the Spanish Association Against Cancer and the Spanish Committee for Tobacco Control for organizing it.
There are many people behind these organizations: scientists, doctors, researchers, experts in public health policies and all of them are working towards a common goal: to get the European social movement working together so that smoking is no longer our top public health problem. Because smoking is not a habit, it is a disease. And we must help those suffering from it.
For those of us interested in health, we have three days ahead of us to analyze, propose, review, share and contrast everything related to this extremely complex problem. With questions such as where we are now and what we know after so much legal, scientific and social evidence.
We know that smoking tobacco and the new non-combustible products cause very serious diseases.
We know that increasing the price of tobacco reduces its consumption.
We know that in Spain, the costs of illnesses linked with tobacco use (work-related, healthcare, medication, disability, loss of productivity, passive smoking harmfull effects) are three times higher than the tax revenue generated by the industry.
This is indisputable. But of course, we also know much more. And that's what this is all about: reviewing what we do know and keep paving the way. The way towards where? Towards more prevention. Above all, primary prevention. That is, reducing the incidence of smoking by changing the risk factors associated with the development of this disease.
"...addressing an issue like the tobacco epidemic requires intelligence, unity and a coordinated strategy that integrates prevention, legal and care measures, as well as control policies that have the potential to reduce its negative impact on health. Professor Carlos López Otín always reminds us that prevention is the culture of life. And a healthy life requires curiosity about the knowledge that helps us make all those daily decisions that affect our health. Meaning: what we eat, drink, breathe, think, what we do not smoke and the exercise we do. Every single day of our life. Let us promote that individual responsibility and now let us listen during these three days to those who really know. Thank you!..."
The focus of this 9th Conference is inspiring because young people have a very important role in leading the movement to ensure that tobacco use is not the main cause of preventable death in the world any more. Those of us who, on many occasions during our youth, were unaware of the risks associated with tobacco and nicotine products, would have wanted to have all the information and all that ability that you have today to perceive true reality. I am sure that none of you here today would go to the cafeteria and order a cocktail of ammonia, cadmium, tar, acrolein, carbon monoxide, acetone, arsenic, hydrogen cyanide, nicotine and formaldehyde, among other ingredients; right?
Addressing an issue like the tobacco epidemic requires intelligence, unity and a coordinated strategy that integrates prevention, legal and care measures, as well as control policies that have the potential to reduce its negative impact on health. Professor Carlos López Otín always reminds us that prevention is the culture of life. And a healthy life requires curiosity about the knowledge that helps us make all those daily decisions that affect our health. Meaning: what we eat, drink, breathe, think, what we do not smoke and the exercise we do. Every single day of our life. Let us promote that individual responsibility and now let us listen during these three days to those who really know. Thank you!
—CASTELLANO—
Buenos días. Sean bienvenidos a Madrid para esta 9ª Conferencia Europea “Tabaco o Salud” (ECToH). Gracias a la Association of European Cancer Leagues por elegir España y a la Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer y al Comité Español para la Prevención del Tabaquismo por organizarla.
Son muchas las personas que estáis detrás de estas entidades: científicos, médicos, investigadores, expertos en políticas de salud pública. Y todos tenéis una meta común: aglutinar el movimiento social europeo para que el tabaquismo deje de ser el primer problema de salud pública. Es decir, el tabaquismo no es un hábito, es una enfermedad y debemos ayudar a las personas que la padecen.
A quienes nos interesa la salud nos esperan tres días para analizar, proponer, revisar, compartir y contrastar todo lo que se refiere a este complejísimo problema.
Y dónde estamos ahora, qué sabemos después de tanta evidencia científica, social, legislativa… Sabemos que consumir tabaco y los nuevos productos sin combustión provocan enfermedades muy graves. Sabemos que el incremento del precio del tabaco reduce su consumo. Sabemos que, en España, los costes en enfermedad asociados al consumo del tabaco (laborales, asistencia sanitaria, medicación, discapacidad, pérdida de productividad) son tres veces mayores que la recaudación tributaria generada por la industria. Estos hechos son indiscutibles. Sabemos mucho más, claro. Y de eso se trata: de revisar lo sabido y seguir dando pasos. ¿Pasos hacia dónde? Hacia más prevención. Sobre todo, la prevención primaria. Es decir, reducir la incidencia del tabaquismo mediante cambios de los factores de riesgo asociados al desarrollo de esta enfermedad.
Es alentador el enfoque de esta 9ª Conferencia porque los jóvenes tenéis un papel importante en el liderazgo del movimiento para lograr que el consumo de tabaco no sea la primera causa de muerte evitable en el mundo. Los que hemos sido jóvenes y, en muchas ocasiones, inconscientes sobre el riesgo asociado al consumo de tabaco y productos con nicotina, habríamos querido tener toda la información y toda esa capacidad de percibir la realidad que hoy sí tenéis vosotros. Estoy segura de que ninguno de los que estáis hoy aquí iríais a la cafetería a pedir un cóctel de amoniaco, cadmio, alquitrán, acroleína, monóxido de carbono, acetona, arsénico, cianuro de hidrógeno, nicotina y formaldehído, entre otros ingredientes, ¿verdad?
Abordar un asunto como la epidemia de tabaquismo requiere de inteligencia, de unión y de una estrategia coordinada que integre medidas de prevención, legislativas y asistenciales y de políticas de control que tengan potencial para reducir su impacto en la salud. El profesor Carlos López Otín siempre dice que la prevención es la cultura de la vida. Y una vida saludable requiere curiosidad por el conocimiento para saber cómo tomar decisiones diarias que afectan a nuestra salud. Es decir, lo que comemos, bebemos, respiramos, pensamos, lo que no fumamos y el ejercicio que hacemos. Cada día de nuestra vida. Impulsemos esa responsabilidad individual y escuchemos a los que más saben durante estos tres días. ¡Gracias!