The Rennes School of Public Health Studies (EHESP) has become the first tobacco-free campus in France. It is part of the fight against smoking, which is also in full swing at the national level.
On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, the École des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique (EHESP) in Rennes has become the first tobacco-free campus in France. “This is the first higher education institution to launch a tobacco-free area,” said the school. “We are fully committed to the fight against smoking.”
Protect passive smokers
Concretely, the places have become non-smoking. Tobacco-free totems placed at the various entrances inform individuals entering the 9-hectare area. For those who still wish to smoke, smoking shelters and ashtrays with a cigarette butt collection system have been installed on the edge of the campus, away from the entrances.
The objective is twofold: to encourage smokers to stop or reduce their tobacco consumption – they will soon be able to meet tobacco specialists or learn sophrology on campus – and to protect passive smokers.
One cigarette a day is enough to put your health at risk
Nationally, the French Federation of Cardiology (FFC) has also just launched a campaign to preserve them, as well as “small smokers”, recalling that one cigarette a day is enough to endanger health.
[Tabac]
Even “little” smokers significantly increase their risk of cardiovascular accident: + 48% in men and + 57% in women from the first daily cigarette.
It’s here #WorldTobacco Free Day here is our press release ?? https://t.co/wZLkGqsr8z pic.twitter.com/zkZaqtNcNy– Fédé de cardiologie (@fedecardio) May 31, 2018
The dangers of smoking are present in the short and long term. In the short term, smoking can cause spasms of the arteries, that is to say a sudden narrowing of the arteries, the formation of clots and the appearance of cardiac arrhythmias. These disorders can themselves be responsible for myocardial infarction, stroke or sudden death. In the long term, it is the gradual degradation of the arteries that threatens the smoker. When it is exposed to other risk factors like excess cholesterol, diabetes or high blood pressure, this phenomenon can be increased. Every day, 200 people die from tobacco in France.
A generation of non-smokers before 2034
According to Professor Bertrand Dautzenberg, pulmonologist at Pitié-Salpêtrière and president of Paris without tobacco, France could lead to a generation of non-smokers before 2034. A new survey carried out by his association shows that those under 15 are less than 5% to smoke. They were 11% in 2013. Between 2016 and 2017, the number of smokers in France fell by 2.5 points, which is equivalent to approximately one million fewer smokers.
.
