Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
11/07/2012
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
According to new research, it is estimated that the measures have prevented about 420,000 deaths from smoking between 1989 and 2008 in the country
The number of smokers in Brazil has halved in the last 20 years thanks to anti-smoking laws implemented in the country, completed a study done by the National Cancer Institute (INCA) in Rio de Janeiro, in partnership with Georgetown University, in Washington, USA. According to the survey, measures such as cigarette taxes and smoking restrictions in indoor prevented about 420,000 deaths from smoking between 1989 and 2010.
According to the survey, done from a mathematical model developed in the United States and epidemiological data from Brazil, nearly half (46%) reduction in the number of smokers in Brazil between 1989 and 2008 was due to higher taxes on products tobacco products. Others responsible for this decrease were laws restricting smoking indoors (14%) and advertising of this type of product (14%), and treatment programs against smoking (10%) and warnings of problems health on packages (8%) - Recent findings contradicting Anvisa.
The survey also estimated that if these laws are kept smokefree, smoking in Brazil would fall another 39% over the next 40 years and the number of deaths resulting from cigarette that could be avoided jump to seven million between 1989 and 2050. If these policies are enhanced and become more stringent over the years, said the study, that number could reach 8.3 million deaths averted.
Method - The survey was based on SimSmoke, a mathematical model created by American researcher David Levy, Georgetown University, which has already been applied in over 30 countries. The method, which uses data such as the number of smokers in a country in a given year and smoke-free laws applied in this region since that date, as information can estimate the rates of reduction in the number of smokers and deaths caused by cigarettes and how the measures contributed to the fall.
In the case of this research, Levy left the smoking rate in Brazil in 1989, which was 43.3% among men above 18 years of age and 27% among women of the same age, according to the National Survey on Health and Nutrition (PNSN). Then, the researcher took into consideration all the antismoking measures applied in the country since then.
Levy then made an estimate of the reduction of smoking that should have taken place in Brazil from 1989 to 2008 with the implementation of smokefree measures if they had been effective. He concluded that by 2008, the decrease would have been 47.7% among men and 48.6% among women. The number to which the researcher has reached virtually the same as recorded by the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), 2008, which indicated a reduction of 47.1% and 48.5% for men and women respectively in the same period.
"Brazil has one of the greatest success stories of public health in reducing deaths due to smoking, and it serves as a model for other countries of low and middle income. However, saw a more stringent set of policies could further reduce smoking in the country and save more lives, "the authors wrote in the article.
Source: See On Line
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.