“The tobacco-free generation is an idea that is applicable,” says a tobacco expert

“The tobacco-free generation is an idea that is applicable, which is starting to be applied in certain countries and which was initiated by Marisol Touraine [ministre de la Santé de 2012 à 2017] a few years ago”reacts on franceinfo Bertrand Dautzenberg, tobacco specialist, pulmonologist and president of the “Paris sans tabac” association.

Banning the sale of tobacco to young people born between 2006 and 2010 could prevent nearly 1.2 million deaths from lung cancer by the end of the century, according to a study by the World Health Organization published Thursday 3 october. A way for the WHO to advocate a “tobacco-free generation”.

“Now in France we plan in the “tobacco plan” to no longer have, from 2032 or 2034, any smokers among those aged 18. The idea is to have less than 5% smokers when we go out of adolescence”explains the tobacco specialist. “We are on the path to doing so since the rate of daily smokers in 2011 was 31%, we rose to 16% ten years later and in ten years we will be below 5%. Things are going in the right direction.”welcomes Bertrand Dautzenberg.

He is therefore in favor of banning cigarettes for minors, because “the ban creates a social norm. The ban on sales to minors is a symbol”She “accompanies an evolution of society which is completely in agreement with this”. For Bertrand Dautzenberg, “cigarettes are now obsolete”It is “a product of old people for young people, a product which is expensive, which is of no interest, which pollutes, which kills. We no longer offer cigarettes to our friends because, to offer a cigarette is to offer death”supports the tobacco specialist. Smoking is the main risk factor for lung cancer, the most common and deadliest cancer in the world.