Anti-Smoking Proposals Continue to Appear Every Day

Published on Tue, 02 September 2008 7:09 pm

The National Health Service (NHS) has to cope with 12,000 admissions a year as a result of smoking cigarettes.

The Department of Health is consulting on plans to reduce the number of people who smoke and on ways to prevent others from taking up the habit.

The Whitehall proposals include making the minimum pack size 20 to stop young people, who can only afford packs of 10, from buying cigarettes.

Another idea to stop young smokers is the restriction of cigarette vending machines, either by banning them completely or restricting their use to adults.

It has also been proposed that shops will have to keep cigarettes under the counter.

Researchers showed that more than 200,000 under-16s start smoking each year. Although this is lower than a decade ago, these smokers are still three times more likely to die of cancer due to smoking than someone who starts in their mid-20s.

Councillor Graham Gibbens, Kent County Council cabinet member for public health said: "Despite much progress over the past decade, with 1.9 million fewer smokers since 1998, smoking is still the biggest killer in England. Smoking-related disease kills 87,000 people a year, almost the equivalent to the entire population of towns such as Ashford, Dover or Tonbridge and Malling."

The four statements include supporting a long-term plan to protect future generations, and a plan to support removing all tobacco products from displays, including ending vending machines.

The third statement is to support the introduction of plain packaging on all tobacco products, and the final statement supports the need for an improved strategy to tackle tobacco smuggling.