Health Leaders call for action to create a Smokefree Generation
- Over 120,000 young people have started smoking since the Tobacco and Vapes Bill was first introduced
- 69% of North East adults support raising age of sale for lethal tobacco
Over 1,200 public health professionals, including some from the North East, have urged political parties to help create a Smokefree Generation and ensure swift passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill – warning an estimated 124,600 young people aged 18-25 have started smoking since the legislation was first introduced last November.
As the House of Lords begins the Bill’s committee stage today (Monday Oct 27), a coalition of doctors, midwives, public health directors, smoking cessation advisors, academics, clinicians, nurses, trading standards officers, environmental health professionals and councillors have written to party health spokespeople calling for speedy implementation of the legislation, calling it a ‘historic opportunity to protect future generations.’
The world-leading Tobacco and Vapes Bill, one of the most ambitious public health measures in decades, would make it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after 1 January 2009, creating a smokefree generation. It will also grant the government the power to curb the irresponsible marketing of vapes to children.
In the North East, 69% of adults support the proposals to raise the age of sale by a year each year. The North East also has a Declaration for a Smokefree Future to end the death and disease of tobacco, which is supported by local authorities and the North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board.
Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “There is no other legal product like tobacco that kills two out of three lifelong customers. This is why we need urgent action supported across all parties – just like it is supported by the public and partners. It is appalling that more young people start to smoke every day on an addiction which shortens lives.
“Most people who smoke get addicted as children, bitterly regret ever starting and will also try to stop many times. More than 1 in 3 smokers try to quit every year. It is not a free choice when you are addicted.
“This is not about depriving adult smokers who aren’t ready to stop smoking. It is about giving our next generation a life free of a cancer-causing addiction and save them tens of thousands of pounds over a lifetime.”
She added: “The Bill will also vitally help protect children from inappropriate marketing and promotion of vapes, whilst ensuring that existing adult smokers can be helped to switch, make even more effective quit attempts and reduce the risks of lethal tobacco smoking.”
Amanda Healy, Durham County Council’s Director of Public Health and Chair of the Association of Directors of Public Health North East Network, said: “Local authorities, NHS trusts and many other organisations overwhelmingly support creating a smokefree generation. Smoking now costs our region £1.99B a year – a cost not just felt by families and communities but to our economy, local authority social care budgets, and to the NHS.
“Everyone knows that smoking kills, but we sometimes forget how it also renders people too ill to work or look after themselves. No family who has seen a loved one suffer from smoking wants this for their children or grandchildren.”
Mum of three Sue Mountain, 60, from South Shields, started smoking aged 11. She underwent laser treatment aged 48 after a biopsy revealed she had laryngeal cancer in 2012. The cancer then returned in 2015 and then again in 2017 but she is now cancer free. She has been campaigning for many years for action.
“I am appalled by the fact that 124,000 more young people have started smoking since last November. More people will start every day before this law is introduced. The clock is ticking, and it is such a waste.
“This is all about a better life for our children and grandchildren – free of waking up needing a cigarette, free of the costs and free of the health risks.
“It is also time to consider making tobacco companies pay a levy towards prevention and supporting smokers to quit. Tobacco companies make nearly £1 billion profit every year in the UK while families worry and our NHS and local councils must pick up the pieces from the damage caused.”
Signatories to the letter, which highlights the six-month delay since the Bill’s last appearance in Parliament, stress that the legislation is a once in a generation opportunity to turn the tide on tobacco, protect young people and save tens of thousands of lives.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the UK, responsible for over 70,000 deaths every year.