India’s best-known docs debate tobacco harm reduction on the third anniversary of the e-cigarette ban.
MUMBAI, India, Oct. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Policy Circle, one of many main multimedia platforms for in-depth discussions on economy, policy and governance hosted a roundtable on ‘Tobacco Harm Reduction – Risks and Benefits’ to mark three years to India’s ban on Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). The roundtable was in continuation of the sooner discussions the place specialists corresponding to parliamentarians, lawmakers, eminent docs, and policymakers deliberated on India’s tobacco policy and highlighted the necessity of harm reduction. Three years after the ban, the market is flooded with unlawful merchandise. There is rising concern in regards to the unregulated use digital nicotine supply techniques, or ENDS, particularly amongst mother and father about their rampant use amongst younger kids.
“The government policies in the last two decades have brought in a big shift in the attitude towards tobacco addiction and cessation. In my opinion, harm reduction is not substitution. We need to prevent tobacco usage,” mentioned Dr Okay Madan Gopal, Senior Consultant, NITI Aayog.
Dr MC Misra, former Director, AIIMS, New Delhi, opined, “People need assistance in quitting, but everyone does not have the will power or sufficient socioeconomic wherewithal to enrol in programmes. There is a need for a team of trained people in all hospitals for cessation programmes”
Discussing the potential of tobacco harm reduction, Dr. Bharat Gopal, Director, National Chest Centre, New Delhi mentioned, “There is a need for appropriate regulation as it cannot be all or none phenomena. While underage children have easy access to such products, the medical community which uses them for smoking cessation programmes cannot use them because of the ban. Neither smoking nor vaping is good for health. There is a need to sit together and understand that there is no choice but to regulate them. India currently follows a ‘quit or die’ policy that needs to be reviewed.”
“The addiction aspect for tobacco use disorders or tobacco control policies are often neglected, which is not the case with other such disorders such as alcohol addiction. By allowing combustible cigarettes and banning e-cigarettes, India is working towards harm maximisation. We think banned items are not available but, what the ban actually means is that the government has abdicated the responsibility to regulate them. The absence of a harm reduction category in India, has given an impetus to the dangers of combustible cigarettes,” mentioned Dr. Atul Ambekar, Professor, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, AIIMS.
Dr Sunita Gupta, Professor, Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi, mentioned, “Bans do not work – they will only create underground economies. Making cigarettes expensive has led to people shifting to beedis and chewing tobacco.”
Concluding the discourse and summing the bigger viewpoints, Prof Dr. Nimesh G Desai, Senior Consultant in Psychiatry, and former Director IHBAS mentioned “There seems to be a consensus on the need for harm reduction as an approach for tobacco cessation. I believe that substitution is the way to tackle the challenge, even NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy) is substitution. Eventually, there will be more accommodation for scientific evidence and not being governed by morality or absolute principles.”
Several nations make use of harm reduction technique to scale back the degrees of morbidity and mortality from tobacco use is harm reduction. The advocates of harm reduction say that it’s troublesome to lure people who smoke away from tobacco. While 70% of the people who smoke are prepared to stop, solely 8% of them are in a position to do it. People use tobacco merchandise as a result of they’re hooked on nicotine. Nicotine is a extremely addictive substance, however it’s not the reason for ailments linked to tobacco use. It is the opposite toxins contained in tobacco smoke that trigger most cancers and different lethal ailments.
The supporters of harm reduction help supply of nicotine via a variety of merchandise corresponding to digital cigarettes and ‘warmth not burn‘ merchandise that, they are saying, are within the lowest finish of the spectrum of harm.
Watch the complete video recording of the Policy Circle Roundtable right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ji0_n05iV4&t=1579s
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