The Medscape article 'Myths About Smoking, Diet, Alcohol, and Cancer Persist February 24, 2023' included the following statement:
'Experts at InCA and SPF put the debate to rest, stating that prolonged exposure to carcinogenic substances is far more toxic. As for the danger threshold concerning the number of cigarettes smoked per day, respondents believed this to be 9.2 cigarettes per day, on average. They believed that the danger threshold for the number of years as an active smoker is 13.4, on average.'
I commented: 'This is open to misinterpretation by health professionals and the public, who might consider that lower consumption is not harmful. If indeed this statement about relation with cancer is tenable, the statement should be qualified with the point that Eduardo Bianco (Uruguay made on HIFA this morning: "cardiovascular damage is observed with very few daily cigarettes"'
I am now reading the CDC web page on tobacco and this appears to contradict 'Experts at InCA and SPF' (InCA is the French National Cancer Institute; SPF is Public Health France). The CDC website says: 'Even smoking a few cigarettes a day or smoking occasionally increases the risk of lung cancer.' https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/risk_factors.htm
The information provided by different sources is contradictory and confusing. No doubt this is what the tobacco industry wants.
How can public health messaging be made more consistent, more compelling, clearer?
Best wishes, Neil
Co-chair, HIFA project on Mental health: meeting information needs for substance use disorders - Tobacco, Alcohol, Opiates
https://www.hifa.org/projects/mental-health-meeting-information-needs-su...
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
