Lancet urges tobacco sales ban to prevent lung cancer deaths in 1.2 million youths

The findings aim to protect future generations from the dangers of smoking, the primary risk factor for lung cancer. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths globally, accounting for over two-thirds of the 1.8 million fatalities each year.

New Delhi: Banning the purchase of cigarettes and other tobacco products for youth can significantly prevent 12 lakh lung cancer deaths in the young population, according to a study, published in The Lancet Public Health journal on Thursday.

The findings aim to secure future generations from the risks of smoking, which is the biggest risk factor for lung cancer. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide and is estimated to cause more than two-thirds of the 18 lakh deaths every year.

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In the first-of-its-kind simulation study, researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), called for creating a generation of people who never smoke.

They suggested banning the purchase of cigarettes and other tobacco products for people born between 2006 and 2010. Their results showed it can prevent 12 lakh lung cancer deaths in 185 countries by 2095.

This could prevent 40.2 per cent (1.2 of 2.9 million) of the total lung cancer deaths expected to occur in this birth cohort by 2095.

“Lung cancer is a major killer worldwide, and a staggering two-thirds of deaths are linked to one preventable risk factor — tobacco smoking. Our modelling highlights how much there is to gain for governments considering the implementation of ambitious plans towards creating a tobacco-free generation,” said Dr. Julia Rey Brandariz, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

“Not only could this save huge numbers of lives, it could massively reduce the strain on health systems of treating, and caring for people in ill health as a result of smoking,” Brandariz added.

The study further showed that banning tobacco sales could prevent almost half of expected lung cancer deaths among men (45.8 per cent), and close to one-third of expected deaths in women (30.9 per cent).

To date, no country has made laws to make it illegal to sell tobacco to young people. While New Zealand took the bold step to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in or after 2009, it was recently repealed.