- In Mexico, diseases associated with tobacco use cause more than 60,000 deaths per year.
- Tobacco cigarettes contain about 4,500 toxic substances. Ee them, 68 are carcinogenic.
- According to the INEGI there are 15 million people between the ages of 12 and 65 in our country who smoke.
Smoking is considered one of the most severe and deadly addictions in the world. Its impact is not always immediate because most of the time it generates a gradual decrease in the quality of life of the users. It is also a risk factor for the development of a large number of diseases and conditions.
Current panorama in Mexico
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) in Mexico there are 15 million people between the ages of 12 and 65 who smoke. This figure represents 17.6 percent of the population in that age range. While there are 684 thousand adolescents fond of nicotine and their first contact with tobacco was on average at 14.3 years.
For its part, the 2018 National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT) mentions that every year 51,575 people die in our country due to smoking. Of that number, at least 12,404 are women.
Smoking in women
Regarding the impact of secondhand tobacco smoke on women, according to data from the National Survey on Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Consumption (ENCODAT) 2016, the prevalence of women exposed to this smoke in their own homes is 16.1% compared to the 11.4% of men.
This means that women in Mexico are not protected from smoke in their homes. The main reason is because the home lacks the control that exists in public spaces to prohibit smoking in closed spaces, appealing to the voluntary decision of smokers not to contaminate the space they share with the women of the home.
“This March 8, it is important to unmask the tobacco industry’s discourse towards women. The one that alleges a narrative of empowerment that has nothing to do with that, but quite the opposite. It ties her to a product that just because of breast cancer in 2021 killed 7,973 people, 99.4% of them being women patients. The main risk factor for developing this type of cancer in women is smoking. For this reason, it is necessary to dismantle the strategy of this industry,” said Rosario Hernández, director of the Los Rescatadores Health & Well-being project.
According to the Pictoline infographics site, smoking is a risk factor for contracting the Human Papilloma Virus, which causes cervical cancer, another variant of this disease that in 2019 had a mortality rate in women aged 25 years and over 10,410 deaths per 100,000 women in the age group, 10.7 deaths per 100,000 women between 40 and 49 years of age, 18.0 in women between 50 and 59 years of age, and 33.8 in women aged 60 and over.
“Smoke-free spaces, as well as the prohibition of advertising, sponsorship and promotion of tobacco industry products are public policies totally in favor of women’s right to health, since they significantly reduce the risk of developing long-term term diseases related to the direct consumption of tobacco and its smoke. Somehow, they are gender policies in favor of the healthy development of women at all stages and invite those who smoke in their homes to respect this common place as a smoke-free space for housewives, mothers of relatives, daughters and women who live with smokers”.
For this reason, it is important to denounce and point out the establishments and places of entertainment and collective concurrence where the General Law for the Control of Tobacco and its regulations are not complied with. Among its objectives is the health care of Mexican women and the defense of their right to a life free of cigarette smoke and electronic cigarettes in spaces that must be safe for them, at any stage of life.
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