Some of the worlds toughest measures to curb smoking emanate from Finland. Pekka Puska, D G, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland in conversation with Shahid Akhter, ENN discusses the endgame of tobacco in Suomiland.

In 2010, Finland became the first country in the world to completely ban smoking. Is it an outright ban ? Can you please tell us more about this new tobacco act ?
In 2010, the Parliament outlined that the law subjects to a smokefree Finland. Passing of this Act was challenged by the tobacco industry as unconstitutional, since tobacco business is still recognized as a legal industry “ although domestic tobacco factories were shut long ago because of shrinking markets.

“The intention of legislation is to create conditions in which smoking and tobacco use would gradually became very rare”

This Act prescribes measures to prevent people from taking up the tobacco products, it promotes quitting their use and to protect the population against exposure to tobacco smoke. The Act tends to stop the use of tobacco products containing compounds that are toxic to humans and create addiction. The intention of legislation is to create conditions in which smoking and tobacco use would gradually became very rare.

When was Smoke Free Finland initiated and how did it evolve ?
Its backed by a long process of tobacco control in Finland since 1970s. The first tobacco act in 1976 was already very comprehensive with total ban of advertising and smokefree public places. Since then the law has repeatedly been amended and strengthened, together with many other tobacco control activities “ and great reduction in smoking rates, leading to environmental smoking control.

Major amendments in the tobacco law were in 1995, when worksites were made practically smokefree and the age limit for sale ban to minors was increased to 18 years, and in 2006 when restaurants and bars were made smokefree. Already in the original tobacco law in 1976, all advertising and sales promotion were prohibited also the Health related warnings were made.

In the latest amendment, among other things; display of tobacco products in shops was also prohibited “ i.e. they must be under the counter. For instance even at Helsinki airport tax free area, no tobacco products are seen. Finnish government has proposed to EU to move towards plain cigarette packaging. Sale of smokeless tobacco (snus) was prohibited in Finland since 1995, while now its across EU, except in Sweden.

Tobacco taxation is regarded as an effective measure towards tobacco control. Taxes add up to an enormous figure of 81 per cent of cigarette prices in Finland, also recently the government again increased the tax effective from the beginning of next year.

The Government of Finland is undertaking policies to make Finland tobacco-free ( Savuton Suomi) by 2040 ? What have you achieved so far and the road ahead ?

The endgame target smokefree Finland seems possible only because the tobacco use has reduced considerably. Currently the prence of daily smoking has reduced to 16% of adult population. Attitudes among people have greatly changed towards smokefree direction, smoking is no more regarded as a normal behavior, places such as restaurants, worksites etc have become smokefree.

The road ahead is to continue with the process and also to outline final endgame measures. Intially, the experts thought that the smokefree target can only be achieved by 2040, while with the current developments it seems a reality by 2030. The road to smokefree Finland is continuously assessed by a core group of Finnish experts, representing research, NGOs and government officials. Monitoring and uation data by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is a major tool in this. The aim is to strengthen existing tobacco control measures, as well as to look for new endgame instruments.

Legislation and laws apart, how good is public awareness and participation ?
As indicated above, the prence of smoking among adults is 16% of the adult population. This rate is declining considerably among all age groups. Remaining smokers are worried about their smoking habit and would likely to stop smoking. While among the youth, smoking is no more cool.

National surveys show that out of the remaining daily smokers, 80% are worried about the impact of their smoking on their health, 60% say that they would like to stop smoking, and as many as 40% say that during the last year they have made at least one serious effort to stop smoking.

Thus the issue for the national tobacco control is not to motivate or persuade smokers to quit but to help them in their smoking cessation efforts. That means both individual supports to smoking cessation and policies that make smoking cessation easier.

Please tell us about anti smoking laws in your neighbouring Nordic countries
Like in most Western countries, the legislation in the Nordic countries has now pretty advanced. All the Nordic countries have ratified the FCTC. As per EUs directive, Finland and Denmark have banned sale of smokeless tobacco. Sweden is an exception in EU “ there sale of smokeless tobacco is still allowed.
To sum up, EU tobacco policy has developed quite favourably. The EU tobacco directive gives reasonably good basis, upon which many countries like Finland have built even more strict policies. Strengthening of EU tobacco policy is being planned and will take place, in spite of the lobbying against the tobacco industry.

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