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Angela Hui, a freelance reporter for HuffPost UK Lifestyle, shares her opinions on whether the coronavirus pandemic has killed social smoking and if occasional smoking could be stubbed out for good.
Angela was 14 when she had her first cigarette which she links to peer pressure. After that, she began smoking cigarettes occasionally and refused to consider herself a ‘proper smoker’ - despite sometimes going through a packet of 20 Marlboro menthols in one sitting. Reflecting on this, she says social smoking is still smoking; and even one or two cigarettes can put your health at risk.
In 2019, she decided to quit occasional smoking and felt like this was a doubly wise decision by the time COVID-19 came round – a virus that attacks the lungs, heart and can cause a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste. COVID has been an anti-smoking campaign in itself – a YouGov survey for charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) suggests more than one million people have given up smoking since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Of those who have quit in the past four months, 41% have said it was in direct response to coronavirus.
Hazel Cheeseman, ASH’s director of policy, said “COVID-19 and the lockdown has changed our behaviour in so many different ways that it’s not surprising that it’s impacted on some of our existing habits. People already know the dangers of smoking and what the harms are to your lungs and circulatory system, but with the added impetus of a respiratory pandemic. It doesn’t take putting two and two together for people to cut down or stop completely.”
Among the thousands of people heeding this health advice, there is an age gap. According to the YouGov survey, around 400,000 people aged 16-29 have quit compared to 240,000 people in the over-50 age-group. Hazel Cheesman, said: “It’s not surprising that the under 30s are changing their smoking behaviours – I think the social smoking element is likely to play a significant part because those social environments have been taken away. People’s lives have been disrupted, where people have moved back to their family home or found temporary lockdown accommodation. This could be potentially preventing them from smoking or parents don’t know that they smoke, so therefore a change in their behaviour.”
In conclusion, combining awareness of these health risks with our sense of imminent danger and the additional time lockdown has given us for reflection and self-improvement, it is no wonder people are more focused on quitting. Lockdown has transformed our social lives. We have not gone out for months, and since the rules began to relax, many people are now wary – or more respectful – of other people’s boundaries.
Source: Huff Post, 5 August 2020
See also: ASH Press Release: A million people have stopped smoking since the COVID pandemic hit Britain
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On Monday, 3 August 2020, Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust went totally smokefree. Patients, visitors, and staff are no longer permitted to smoke on premises at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital (L&D). The change will bring L&D in line with Bedford Hospital, which became a smokefree site in April 2019.
The Trust aims to promote a healthy environment and lifestyle, for everyone in both hospitals. Dr Syed Tariq, a consultant in respiratory medicine, said: “As a health service dedicated to treating and preventing illness, we cannot allow smoking in our hospitals when it has been proven to cause disease and premature death. Lung cancer is one of many serious conditions caused by smoking, with more than 70% of cases occurring in smokers or ex-smokers.”
A campaign, supported by Total Wellbeing Luton, Luton Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council, has been devised by the Trust to help smokers quit. This includes promoting Council funded stop smoking services and encouraging patients to accept a referral to their local service alongside offering nicotine replacement therapy to all inpatients.
Central Bedfordshire Councillor Tracey Stock said: “You are up to three times more likely to quit if you use a combination of stop smoking medication with specialist help and support from your local stop smoking service.”
Source: Bedford Today, 4 August 2020
See also: Today is the day
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Illicit tobacco worth £3 million and £12,000 in cash were seized in a raid at an illegal tobacco processing factory near Wisbech that was suspected to be under the control of an organised criminal gang.
Officers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), assisted by police from Norfolk Constabulary, seized 9.3 tonnes of tobacco, including 1.2 tonnes of processed tobacco found in a van that was stopped leaving the factory. When HMRC launched their search operation at the site on 14 July, they discovered machinery involved in the manufacture of tobacco which was dismantled and removed from the property.
Adam Kingsgate, assistant director for HMRC’s fraud investigation service, said: “Smugglers are criminals who don’t care who they sell to, including children. That is why disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market. We encourage anyone with information regarding the smuggling, storage or sale of illegal tobacco to report it to HMRC online.”
No arrests made, and enquiries are ongoing.
Source: Wisbech Standard, 29 July 2020
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Writing in The Times, Tim Whipple, science editor, shares his opinions on the steady decline of dementia rates in the developed world.
Dementia rates are falling across the developed world, meaning that millions of more people, especially men, will escape the condition, a study has shown. The risk of developing dementia has dropped by 13% per decade over the past 27 years, according to Harvard University research. Much of this decline comes from plummeting rates in men.
A similar trend was found in Britain; the average man’s likelihood of dying with dementia has fallen by an estimated 22% a decade, while for women, it appeared to remain unchanged. In 1995 for the average European or American person aged 75, there was a one in four chance of getting dementia. That is now less than one in five.
Sara Imarisio, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said that the findings underlined that dementia can be prevented including through behavioural changes. “We know recent decades have seen a radical decline in smoking rates for men. While many people may have been persuaded to stop smoking due to an increased risk of cancer or heart disease, it is also a key risk factor for dementia.”
Dementia, for now, might not be curable, but that does not mean it is unstoppable. We might not have the drugs to stop it, but we do have highly effective ways of doing so through our behaviours: exercise, a good diet and not smoking. Of the three, it is the last that has probably made the most significant difference.
Source: The Times, 5 August 2020
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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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