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Sir Chris Whitty: The smoking industry must be destroyed
The cigarette industry should be destroyed for the benefit of public health, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, the UK Government’s Chief Medical Adviser, has said. Speaking at a symposium on medical ethics held by the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Sir Chris, who is also Chief Medical Officer for England, warned of the harms of smoking on society and said ministers are currently considering whether to bring in new policies to limit smoking.
Sir Chris said: “Smoking is the biggest driver that we could easily deal with in the sense of the inequalities we see across the UK. It is an appalling way to die, it kills people in multiple ways. Everyone in this room I suspect would agree that getting smoking down to zero and destroying the cigarette industry should be an aim of public health, and I would say that very categorically.” He said that there was a “legitimate point” about adults being allowed to make their own choices, but warned that governments often faced lobbying from vested interests. He said it is important for the state to intervene in industries based on addiction.
An independent review by Dr Javed Khan, published in June, recommended that the Government enacts measures to ensure England is smokefree by 2030, however, the Government has not yet said which recommendations it will follow.
Sir Chris said: “Where the current government has decided to go into these markets has not yet been decided, and that’s going to be up to the ministers who are currently in post [...] There was a good report commissioned by Sajid Javid, the Khan review, and I think ministers will in due course want to look at that and decide which things within that they wish to do.”
At a backbench business debate of the Government’s smokefree policy, Bob Blackman MP said that making smoking obsolete is “vital” to the health of the entire population. He told the House: “It also helps deliver economic growth because smoking increases sickness, absenteeism and disability, and the total public finance cost of smoking is twice that of the excise taxes that tobacco brings into the Exchequer. Many tens of thousands of people die prematurely each year from smoking, and 30 times as many as those who die are suffering from serious illnesses caused by smoking which cost the NHS and our social care system billions of pounds every single year.”
Mr Blackman shared Sir Chris Whitty’s concerns that the Government had still not published its new smoking plan following the review.
Source: Telegraph, 3 November 2022
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Ministers urged to probe whether vapes are being marketed towards teens
The government must investigate whether vapes are being inappropriately marketed towards underage teenagers, a former health minister has said. Concerns over under-18s using vapes having increased over the past few years. In the UK, it is currently illegal for under-18s to buy vapes.
Charity ASH said it was "inappropriate" that young influencers on social media sites were promoting vapes to their agemates. Doctors also told ITV News they were worried that vapes are being marketed towards teenagers.
During a backbench debate on the Government’s smokefree 2030 ambition this week, Conservative MP Maggie Throup told MPs in the House of Commons: “It is illegal for a retailer, whether online or on the high street, to sell vaping products to anyone under the age of 18, so I question how these underage users are obtaining these devices. The manufacturers are obviously aiming some of their marketing at this age range by use of cartoon characters, a rainbow of colours, and flavours to match. The purpose of e-cigarettes should be purely as an aid to quit smoking, not, as I fear, as a fashion accessory and potentially as a first step to take up smoking.” She expressed concern that vapes were becoming an “industry in their own right, now being used by tobacco companies to maintain their own profits as restrictions on tobacco increase”.
Throup called on ministers to “see what more can be done to clamp down on the illegal supply of vapes to those under the age of 18”, and also joined other MPs in asking when they can expect a tobacco control plan to be published.
A recent survey carried out for ASH found that the proportion of children aged 11 to 17 currently vaping has increased from 4% in 2020 to 7% in 2022. In 2013, just 3% of those aged 11 to 15 had ever vaped, but this rose to 8% in 2020 and 10% in 2022.
In September, a King’s College study concluded that smokers who switch to vapes will have a substantial reduction in their exposure to toxins that promote cancer, lung disease and cardiovascular disease, but advised that for those who have never smoked, they should not take up vaping as it was not free from risks.
Source: ITV News, 3 November 2022
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Opinion: Public health policy should return to the top of Steve Barclay’s priority list
Adam Briggs, Senior Policy Fellow from The Health Foundation writes in PoliticsHome that Steve Barclay returning health secretary, must prioritise public health if he is to adequately address the demand faced by the NHS. This can be traced back to a decade of NHS budget increases failing to keep pace with demand and the ongoing lack of a funded plan to fix social care. But overlooked is the 24% cut in public health funding since 2015 and a lack of priority given to public health issues like obesity and tobacco.
Briggs states that between 2010 and 2019, austerity saw real terms cuts across public services and a slow-down in improvements in public health, most acutely felt by the most deprived communities. He writes that the life-expectancy gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is entirely avoidable, and calls attention to the role of commercial interests in driving unhealthy behaviours.
Briggs argues that political rhetoric promoting individual responsibility over broader government action to improve health will not be sufficient because many factors that determine someone’s health are beyond any one person’s control. The new tobacco control plan was expected to build on Javed Khan’s independent review of smokefree 2030 policies, but this is yet to be published. Briggs emphasises that the public largely supports greater government action to prevent ill health and thinks the government should do more.
Briggs concludes that if Steve Barclay is to have any hope of finding a sustainable solution to the acute crises in health and social care, he will need to “engage with public health policy to help prevent people from getting sick in the first place [including] immediately recommitting to previously planned public health policy on obesity and tobacco and publishing the health inequalities white paper. It’s from this platform that a more joined-up health and public health policy agenda can be developed to create a cross government strategy, including areas like housing, employment, and welfare, that supports both health and wealth.”
Source: Politics Home, 3 November 2022
See also: The Khan review - Making smoking obsolete
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Backbench debate: Smokefree 2030
MPs on Thursday held a backbench debate on the recommendations from Javed Khan’s independent review of smokefree 2030 policies, published in June earlier this year.
Led by Bob Blackman MP, Chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health, the substantive motion put forward stated: “That this House has considered the recommendations of the Khan review: Making smoking obsolete, the independent review into smokefree 2030 policies, by Dr Javed Khan, published on 9 June 2022; and calls upon His Majesty’s Government to publish a new Tobacco Control Plan by the end of 2022, in order to deliver the smokefree 2030 ambition.”
In addition to Mr Blackman, MPs present included former public health minister Maggie Throup MP (Erewash), Alex Cunningham (Stockton North), Liz Twist (Blaydon) and shadow minister for public health Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish).
Responding for the Government, Neil O’Brien, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Primary Care and Public Health:
- Restated the Government’s commitment to the smokefree 2030 ambition
- Acknowledged the harm caused by smoking to society
- Restated the government’s commitment to article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC
- Said the Government is “working closely with the MHRA to support a future medically licensed vaping product”
- Said that the Government “will be quickly taking stock on whether a refreshed tobacco control plan is the best way to respond [to the Khan review], and on how and when to take forward all the suggestions made by that review.”
Read the full transcript of the debate via the Hansard website.
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ASH is recruiting: NHS strategic lead
This leadership role will seek to engage NHS leaders across prevention and health inequalities programmes as part of helping to secure the Government’s vision of smokefree England by 2030. For more information on the role, please view the job posting.
The deadline for applications is Monday 14th November 11.59pm. Interviews will be held over Teams in the following week.
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New ASH retailer report: Regulation is not a dirty word
The report presents the results of a survey of local retailers in the UK, focusing on the findings for England. The survey explored retailers’ attitudes to selling tobacco and to proposals for new measures to further reduce the harm of tobacco, including measures that would directly affect their business.
Tobacco companies have a long history of opposing measures such as increased regulation of tobacco, ostensibly to protect the interests of local retailers. In reality, however, the interests of local retailers diverge from the interests of the industry. This study offers an independent account of retailers’ views, free from commercial influence.
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OHID: Updated segment tool
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has this week updated their Segment Tool. The tool identifies which causes of death make the biggest contribution to national and local inequalities in life expectancy, and how these have changed over time. Targeting the causes of death which contribute most to the life expectancy gap should have the biggest impact on reducing inequalities.
Use the tool here.
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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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