1) To prevent uptake of smoking it is important to develop more smoke-free areas in public, to increase the price of cigarettes and remove smoking from media and internet content; this will progressively reduce morbidity and mortality from smoking within the next two decades and into the future |
2) Comprehensive local, national and European Union interventions against smoking should be further strengthened, including sustained health promotion media campaigns, large pictorial warnings and plain packaging on tobacco products, and tobacco use should be phased out |
3) To reduce the burden of tobacco-induced respiratory disorders it is important to encourage all current smokers to quit in order to reduce morbidity and mortality from smoking over the next two decades and beyond [6] |
4) Smoking cessation treatment (counselling in combination with drugs) is one of the most cost-effective interventions in medicine; it should be used more widely and its cost should be reimbursed completely Education and training in cessation of tobacco use should be included in the curricula of all health professionals and medical students [7] |
5) The UK model, with public smoking cessation clinics for every 150 000 people in the population and reimbursement of smoking cessation therapy, could be a model for other European countries. |
6) The obligations and guidelines of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control should be further implemented across Europe [8] |
7) Current smoke-free laws protect adults in the workplace and entertainment venues; however, these laws do not prevent exposure in the womb, in the home or in private vehicles, where levels of toxins can be very high Legislation to protect new-borns and children is needed to prevent harm to exposed children |