More than six million people in the UK have died from smoking in the 50 years since physicians first called for government action against it, a conference heard today.
Smoking rates in the UK have fallen substantially since the Royal College of Physicians of London published its first report on smoking in 1962- but one in five of the population still smokes.
This equates to ten million people, states a new report by Professor John Britton and others from the College.
At a conference today, they set out several key areas for action to deal with smoking, the UK’s largest cause of preventable death.
Half of all smokers will die from causes related to smoking – a loss of one hundred million years of life for current smokers. But a minimum of 360,000 deaths have been prevented by the fall in smoking since 1962.
In addition to the recent smoking ban in public places and bans on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, among other policy changes, the experts call for more action.
They want to see higher prices, the removal of cigarette and tobacco brand imagery from films and TV programmes watched by children and young people, mass media campaigns on TV at peak times, and the extension of smoke-free policies to parks and other public areas.
Professor Britton also calls for legal protection of children against smoke in cars and homes, better NHS cessation services, and plain packaging.
"Smokers smoke because of an addiction to nicotine that is usually established before adulthood," he says. "There is so much more that can and should be done to prevent the death, disease and human misery that smoking causes. Our government needs to act at the highest level to tackle smoking head on, and eradicate it from our society and particularly our children’s futures."
Leave a Reply