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Urgent warning to millions as tobacco kills one person every five minutes – 5 ways to stub it out
Smoking kills someone every five minutes in Britain, a “shocking” report warns.
Nearly 125,000 Brits died from tobacco use in 2019, the analysis by Cancer Research UK found.
Cigarettes are the biggest cause of cancer and death in the country, responsible for around 55,000 fatalities a year.
The charity is urging the Government to set up a “Smokefree Fund” to help pay the cost of tobacco control.
Michelle Mitchell, CRUK chief executive, said: “These figures are shocking, and I can’t help watching the clock. Since last month, around 17,100 lives have been needlessly lost to tobacco across the UK. Over 7,600 of these were due to cancer alone.
“Our supporters are telling us they want governments across the UK to urgently deliver the vital funding required to address the leading cause of cancer and save countless lives.
“Enough is enough and we’re calling on our supporters to sign a petition we’ll present to the Prime Minister urging him to take bold and decisive action to achieve a smokefree UK.”
CRUK is calling for more funding to stop smoking services and better public health campaigns to raise awareness.
Source: The Sun, 31 May 2023
See also:
CRUK petition to the Prime Minister to demand action on smoking
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UK ministers could ban flavoured vapes to deter sales to children
Ministers are considering further vaping laws, such as a ban on colourful branding or flavours, to deter their sale to children amid calls for plain packaging to be extended to the products.
No 10 said the government was considering “further steps” on vaping, with a call for evidence due to close next week. The government announced on Tuesday that it was closing a loophole in the law that allowed companies to give away free samples to children, as concern grows that usage of vapes among under 18s has been on the rise.
A Whitehall source said the government “hasn’t ruled out” the idea of plain packaging for vaping and is exploring a number of further measures.
Deborah Arnott, the chief executive of Ash, also called for a prohibition on “branding on vapes appealing to children, such as sweet names and bright colours”.
“This initial announcement must be quickly followed by more detailed action when the government’s current ‘call for evidence’ on vaping closes next week,” she said. “The most important immediate step the government could take now is to put a tax on the cheap disposables which are the vape of choice for children, as well as being bad for the environment.”
She said the most popular disposable vape, Elf Bar, can be bought for as little as £2.99 and tax of £5 on a disposable vape would make them much less affordable for children.
Source: The Guardian, 30 May 2023
See also:
ASH Response to the Government announcement on youth vaping
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Opinion: Marketing vapes to children is utterly unacceptable
Writing in the Times, Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England discusses the role of vaping for smoking cessation and criticises companies who are marketing vaping to children.
Whitty begins by stating: “If you smoke, vaping is much safer. If you don’t smoke, don’t vape. Marketing vapes to children is utterly unacceptable.” He highlights the significant damage smoking does to the health of smokers and those around them, describing smoking as a “deliberate industry-induced addiction” which takes peoples’ choice away.
Whitty states that “helping smokers to quit is one of the best things we can do for their health” and highlights the effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. He continues by pointing out that although vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking, it is not risk free and should be discouraged among non-smokers and especially children.
Whitty points to the recent rise in youth vaping and accuses companies of “trying to addict children for profit” through child-friendly marketing. He also highlights the risks of illicit vapes to child health and welcomes the recent announcement that the government will do more to reduce the marketing of vapes to young people. Whitty also encourages people to submit to the ongoing government call for evidence on opportunities to tackle youth vaping.
Whitty concludes by saying: “We should continue to encourage smokers to swap to vaping as the lesser risk, while preventing the marketing and sale of vapes to children.”
Source: The Times, 30 May 2023
See also:
Youth vaping: call for evidence
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Analysis: Quitters’ aid or addiction risk? Growing debate over vape regulation
With reports that ministers have not ruled out plain packaging for vapes or banning the flavoured versions, the dial on the products appears to be shifting in England.
In the UK, vaping has long been valued as a useful smoking cessation tool, and it is easy to buy vapes, which usually contain nicotine but do not have tobacco in them. But other countries are increasingly opting for tougher stances.
In Australia, recreational vaping is banned and vapes are now available only on prescription, in response to fears that their use can lead to nicotine addiction. The Netherlands has banned flavoured vapes and France is considering banning cheap disposable vapes.
Restricting vapes to prescription only while cigarettes remain available in any corner shop could also send a confusing message about harm, according to the campaign group Action on Smoking Health (Ash). “It would make it much harder for adults to vape than to smoke and could even lead some vapers to go back to smoking,” said its deputy chief executive, Hazel Cheeseman.
ASH and many experts believe that although an outright ban is not the answer, there needs to be stricter regulation and enforcement around disposable vapes, which are especially popular with young people, including taxes to make them more expensive. Ministers are also reportedly considering calls for plain packaging, mirroring tobacco rules, and a ban on marketing targeted at children.
Vapes are not covered by rules governing tobacco marketing and ministers are already planning to close a loophole that lets retailers hand out free samples to young people.
Jamie Brown, a professor of behavioural science and health and director of the tobacco and alcohol research group at University College London, says there is a delicate balance to be struck between “maximising the opportunities for adults to quit and minimising risks of people who have never smoked, especially children, from using them.”
He notes that smoking cessation medications, which in the UK are available only by prescription, have never been as widely used as vapes. Conversely, there is a strong body of evidence supporting the idea that vapes help people quit smoking: the UCL smoking toolkit study shows that tens of thousands of people have stopped smoking each year since 2013 by switching to vapes.
Source: The Guardian, 30 May 2023
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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