Health professionals are invited to work together against tobacco. MP Michèle Delaunay appealed to 100,000 of them.
100,000 health professionals united around the fight against tobacco. This is the ambitious goal set by Michèle Delaunay. She just started an online call which has already brought together more than 1,500 practitioners. From the physiotherapist to the nursing assistant, passing through the doctors of various fields, the deputy (PS) of the Gironde has aimed wide. This ex-oncologist denounces the high health consequences of cigarettes. Every year 78,000 people die from a pathology associated with smoking. The time has come to strike a blow. This gathering could well be decisive.
A more proactive approach
The list of the first signatories testifies well to the desire to sweep all the health professions. Dentists, pharmacists, addictologists come together to fight against tobacco. Despite some disagreements on the form, the Addiction Federation has also chosen to sign. Its president, Jean-Pierre Couteron, concedes he hesitated, because of “a somewhat injunctive style” which is not adapted to this form of dependence. “But mobilizing to obtain a coherent policy vis-à-vis smoking won the day,” he explains. It must be said that a rally of this magnitude has never been obtained.
On the merits, the appeal is divided into two parts. The first commits professionals to take more action against smoking. Those who have signed the document should be more proactive with their patients, especially young people or pregnant women. In fact, this requires the promotion of all weaning methods. Why so many specialties? “We know that the message really comes into practice the day it comes from several sources”, explains Michèle Delaunay to whydoctor. Physiotherapists are also authorized to prescribe weaning methods.
The appeal to politicians
The health professions are not the only ones to be challenged. Political decision-makers are also in a good position. In fact, they are the ones who develop legislation and apply it. On this point, the balance sheet remains insufficient. “A dynamic has begun on tobacco, with the National Plan to Reduce Smoking,” concedes Jean-Pierre Couteron. But the success is more than relative: the last weekly epidemiological bulletin on this subject is not extraordinary. Plain packages and soft tobacco price increases are no longer enough. “It is absolutely necessary to transform the test in the next five-year term”, estimates Michèle Delaunay.
Elected officials and candidates are therefore invited to enforce the law more strictly. Starting with the ban on selling tobacco to minors. But that’s not all: the price of a pack of cigarettes must also cross the symbolic bar of 10 euros. The member of the Gironde wants to make it a subject of debate on a European scale.
As the presidential election looms, Michèle Delaunay will need the support of 100,000 health professionals. At present, the debate on health has remained on the sidelines. The member also intends to send the candidates for the primaries and the presidential election the content of the call. Jean-Pierre Couteron expects a lot from them and does not hesitate to draw a parallel with the policy on alcohol. The government gradually relaxed the Evin law. “We hope that this will avoid the errors observed on alcohol, slice the president of the Addiction Federation. We also hope to get a coherent message out of it. “Not sure that this is enough to make the package go to 10 euros.
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