Presented in Italy the “Blue Book”, the document containing the results achieved last year by the Italian Customs and Monopoly Agency. The most impressive result was the contraction of 6.80% in the sale of cigarettes, that since 2017 has seen a reduction of 1.2 million kilograms of available tobacco. According to the report, the importance of the various awareness campaigns made a valid contribution to this, pushing to change the behaviour of smokers towards healthier lifestyles.
Furthermore, following the report, “part of the reduction in the demand for tobacco was also due to the progressive replacement of inhaled non-combusted tobaccos.”
“Campaigns to sensitize consumers on the harmful effects of smoking have been in place for decades, but never had such significant effects on the decline in the consumption of conventional cigarettes – explains Prof. Riccardo Polosa, founder of CoHEAR, the Center of Excellence for Harm Reduction at the University of Catania – this is mostly due to the sharp increase in the use of products that dispense nicotine without combustion, which are less harmful than traditional cigarettes. A result that must drive institutions to pay attention to the revolution already underway” concluded Prof. Polosa.
