North East welcomes new Government plans to reduce smoking
- New measures announced include a national scheme to encourage smokers to swap cigarettes for vapes which will see vape starter kits offered to almost one in five smokers.
- Pregnant women will also be offered up to £400 to stop smoking and a consultation will be launched on introducing mandatory advice on quitting smoking to be placed in cigarette packs.
Fresh and former smokers have welcomed plans announced today to reduce smoking – but called for ongoing action to reduce the death and disease caused by the UK’s biggest killer.
Action on Smoking and Health welcomed the measures as “steps in the right direction” but said they are “nowhere near sufficient” to reach the aim of getting the nation smoke free by 2030, with rates of 5% or less. ASH has also called for more investment in quitting campaigns such as the Don’t be the 1 campaign currently running in the North East.
Up to two in three smokers will die from a tobacco related illness and around 314,000 people still smoke in the North East. A shocking 117,000 people have died in the region from smoking since the year 2000.
Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “We welcome further national action to further reduce smoking. Tobacco is the single biggest cause of cancer and is driving poverty and inequality here in regions like the North-East. That is why most people support the idea of ending smoking and making it a thing of the past for families and our children.
“No other product on the shelves kills up to two in three of its customers, and it is how long we are prepared to put up with this appalling toll on health . We need to ensure more smokers are supported to quit and fewer children start. Vaping is part of that and we welcome more support for adults to switch as we know they are helping people to successfully quit.
But she said: “Tobacco is still a massive drain on the North East – on our local businesses, our economy, our NHS and our local authorities. Tobacco companies are some of the most profitable multinationals on earth and are profiting from addiction. It is only right and fair they are made to pay for prevention.”
Amanda Healy, director of Public Health, County Durham and Chair of Association of Directors of Public Health North East, said: “Tobacco harm is the leading cause in the difference in life expectancy between rich and poor… there can be no levelling up without robust action on tobacco…
“In the North East we have some of the highest smoking rates in England which means we suffer the worst health harms and biggest impact on local communities. We welcome today’s announcements but we need further continued action at all levels to reduce smoking and the illness and invalidity it is causing.”
She added: ““It is also the work happening regionally and locally which will also make a huge difference in reducing smoking. Working together across local authorities and the NHS we aim to reduce these and the burden of smoking-related illnesses and improve the chances of all our residents, from babies to older people.”
Davey Bratton’s mam Maggie died in 2020. In the last conversation he had with her, he held up a vape and promised her he was going to quit smoking. He kept his promise and said: “I’m pleased to see more support for smokers, and vaping can be a great tool to help people quit smoking. The last conversation I had with my mam was me holding up a vape and saying that I was going to quit smoking. Vaping helped me beyond belief because I didn’t smoke again after that.
“I’ve seen firsthand how smoking affects people. It’s filled with so many harmful chemicals that cause cancer. My mam had mouth cancer due to smoking and it massively affected her life. You don’t want someone close to you to go through that. If you vape, at least it’s not smoking. Since quitting smoking and starting vaping, I noticed the difference in my lungs. I could breathe again, and I felt like a new man. I know there’s a lot of scepticism and myths out there about vaping, but for me it saved my life.
“I’m glad that more people are going to get help to quit, but I’d like to see more steps taken as tobacco kills too many people and ruins lives.”
Former smoker Sue Mountain, from South Tyneside quit smoking after treatment for laryngeal cancer. She said:
“I have had cancer three times caused by smoking, so I know only too well the heartbreak smoking causes – not just for me but for my family.
“Like most smokers I started when I was a kid, long before you realise how addictive it is, how much money you spend or how destroys your health. For what I spent I could have had half a house rather than cancer.
“Smoking is still the biggest risk to our children and action is urgently needed. Hundreds of children a day start smoking and risk a lifelong addiction.
“Tobacco companies are making massive profits from an addiction that robs people of their lives and their health. Big Tobacco needs to pay for the damage it does – the government should make the companies fund more support for smokers and awareness campaigns discouraging children from starting and motivating smokers to stop.”
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the Action on Smoking and Health campaign, said: “Vapes increase smokers’ chances of successfully quitting, as do vouchers for pregnant smokers, so these are welcome steps in the right direction, but they are nowhere near sufficient.”
Ms Arnott said “not enough has changed” since the report was published and said funding is “desperately needed to reinstate cuts of more than 90% to mass media campaigns”. “Not to mention the absence of the tougher regulations Khan recommended to raise the age of sale, and reduce the appeal of smoking as well as vaping,” she added.
The latest announcement comes on top of plans to crack down on the illegal sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s.