“Not just tumors, it increases the risks of cataracts and arthritis”

The phrases that are printed on cigarette packets, such as “Smoking is seriously harmful to your health”, are a warning to make us understand the effects they have on our body. But what exactly are the consequences of smoking tobacco? And in what terms does it affect the development of pathologies?

We often hear about this topic, but not everyone probably has in-depth knowledge of it. The impact is notable, both on the health of individuals and in terms of public health, as highlighted by a study published in Tobacco Induced Diseases. This research presents the results of a detailed analysis coordinated by researchers from the Mario Negri Institute and ATS Brianza, aimed at calculating the economic impact of hospitalizations related to cigarette smoking in Italy: it amounts to at least 1.64 billion euros.

To find out more we asked the professor Silvio Garattinipresident and founder of the Mario Negri Institute.

What are the effects of smoking on our body? What impact does it have on our health?

Tobacco smoking is a risk factor for at least 27 diseases. It’s not just lung cancer, which perhaps we hear about most, but also many other tumors, heart attack, cerebrovascular stroke and pathologies that people generally wouldn’t think could be favored by smoking such as cataracts and rheumatoid arthritis.

Can cataracts and rheumatoid arthritis also be favored by smoking?

Yes, smoking is a risk factor. It means that not all cataracts are linked to smoking, but those who smoke are more likely to have them than those who do not smoke. The explanation is simple: he is more susceptible to developing it because smoking also reaches his eyes and increases the risk of developing this problem. The same considerations apply to rheumatoid arthritis and other pathologies.

And what does the extent of the damage caused by smoking depend on?

How many cigarettes a person smokes and how many years they continue this behavior. It should be specified that quitting is always useful because it reduces the risk of contracting these pathologies: it is estimated that every five years the probability of contracting them drops by 50%.

According to the latest data, people start smoking when they are kids.

It’s a wake-up call that shouldn’t be ignored. It is important to remember that it is forbidden to sell cigarettes to minors: a law expressly prohibits it, but checks are not carried out. Often on the street you see very young people of 11-12 years old smoking and I wonder why no one says anything and the police or law enforcement officers don’t notice. If they smoke it means that someone has sold them cigarettes and it is forbidden.

Does smoking cause more harm to young people than to adults?

It is even more dangerous, because a child’s body is in the growth phase and can have more damage. The pathologies favored by smoking manifest themselves over time, but younger people are not used to thinking that what they do now is important for what will happen to them in the future.

Some smokers claim to have never had any health problems, while they know non-smokers who have had several, including, for example, cancer.

They are alibis used by smokers. The data highlights that the number of those among them who die of a heart attack is greater than those who do not smoke and are more likely to develop the diseases I was talking about before. All smokers lie about their daily number of cigarettes: they say that they smoke less and that they had a smoking grandfather who died at 95 years old, but in reality 85% of lung cancers affect smokers, so smoking increases the risk of developing it .

Even passive smoking is harmful.

Today it has greatly decreased because the Sirchia law prevents smoking in closed spaces, as once happened for example at the cinema, in restaurants, etc. Now it can’t be done anymore, but passive smoking still exists in many places. Let’s think about when someone smokes at bus stops, in outdoor restaurants if the tables are close together or in the car in the presence of other passengers, but also on the beach or in the park. This problem affects all people also in terms of pollution, because it is a way to contaminate the environment around us. It is estimated that in Italy around 40 billion cigarettes are smoked every year and the smoke is released into the atmosphere.

There are several.

Yes, definitely, even though we complain about pollution. It also means that 40 billion cigarette butts, with all the toxic carcinogenic and inflammatory substances they contain, go into the soil, and therefore into the water and food we consume at the table.

But can smoking be an anti-stress?

It is not true. It may seem like a stress reliever because those who smoke become addicted: they need nicotine in their brain and continue to need to take it.

Are e-cigarettes less dangerous?

They also contain nicotine. Compared to traditional ones they have fewer toxic substances, but we are talking about different types of toxicity. I would add that it has never been proven that they help to stop smoking, in fact the available data shows that there are more people who start with electronic cigarettes and then move on to traditional ones compared to those who quit using them.

And where would you start to effectively raise awareness among young people about the harm of smoking?

From school. It would be enough to organize health lessons with the intervention of competent people: by providing children with adequate information they could make their own assessments and adopt the most suitable behaviour.

To conclude, do the same considerations apply to the consumption of narcotic substances?

They also have several negative effects on the body. The combustion of smoke, as well as drugs more generally, causes carcinogenic and toxic products.