The decree on the smoking ban in public places confirms the French government’s commitment to combat active smoking. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Health Minister Xavier Bertrand emphasized particularly on passive smoking, which causes the deaths of 6,000 people per year in France. A growing awareness among public authorities and a real international collaboration (WHO FCTC) have rebalanced the forces in a fight that was previously quite unbalanced. In response to this phenomenon, the tobacco industry is fabricating new weapons to disguise this scourge recognized as a public danger. Concerned with concealing an undeniable hazard, they create cigarettes with fruit flavors or labeled as “light” and innovative packaging to attract new customers.
Faced with these increasingly insidious strategies, the Health Information Center is focusing on the impact of cigarettes on our daily lives. How does one live as a smoker and what battles does one face when trying to quit? How can addiction to this scourge be prevented? To ask oneself the right questions, one only needs to imagine themself or a loved one a year and a half from now facing the prohibition. Won’t one feel suffering from not being able to smoke a cigarette in a café? If so, how can they be helped? Should they begin to adapt?
Guilt, pain, a tired body, craving—these are states (of mind or physical) that traverse a smoker’s existence. Taking an interest in the daily fight against tobacco and its toxic effects is a necessity in the actions of the CIS. This meeting will also present the different dependency tests and their reliability, as well as the numerous methods of cessation.
This assessment will be led by Dr. Capitaine (a specialist in tobacco studies at the Hospital Archet II), Mr. Philippe Rueff (Vice-President of the Anti-Tobacco Coordination Azur Mediterranean), and Mr. Marc Klinkhammer (head of the Life and Health League).
