As part of a round table organized by the platform www.med.tn Doctor Yosra Jemli, psychotherapist, sexologist and addictologist, warned against the harmful effects of tobacco addiction on health.
Dr. Jemli pointed out that tobacco dependence leads to risks of respiratory diseases, lung and bladder cancer and heart disease. “According to statistics from the Tunisian Ministry of Health, there are about two million smokers aged between 10 and 70,” she says.
She said the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed alarming figures around the world on deaths caused by smoking, indicating that around 8 million people die each year from tobacco-related causes, while around 1.2 Million people die each year from passive smoking.
Doctor Dhaker Lahidheb, cardiologist and former professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis and at the Military Hospital, said that about 60% of people exposed to strokes are addicted to cigarettes. He pointed out that cigarette smoke is the main cause of harmfulness since there is combustion at more than 600 degrees, which releases all kinds of substances dangerous to health. Once inhaled via cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide passes very quickly into the blood and binds to red blood cells instead of oxygen. It is responsible for the decrease in physical and sexual abilities. He added by drawing a parallel with heated tobacco where the tobacco stick is heated to 300 degrees and not burned, hence the emanation of a smaller quantity of harmful products.
Doctor Lahidheb said that quitting smoking is the best thing smokers can do to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancers, noting that these deadly smoking-associated diseases have become the top most prevalent diseases in the world.
Dr. Lahidheb believes that cigarette addiction can be reduced through awareness raising to change addictive behaviors and the enforcement of laws and legislation enacted but not enforced on the ground to prevent smoking in public places.