Call for new Government to act on smoking

Professor Nick Hopkinson, Chair, Action on Smoking and Health, has written an open letter to the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, on behalf of over 1,000 leading charities, doctors, academics, healthcare workers and public health professionals to call for the new Government to reintroduce the Tobacco & Vapes Bill.

The Bill, which has cross-party support and is widely backed by the public, was making its way through Parliament when the General Election was called. If passed, the Bill would introduce a range of measures, including raising the age of sale of cigarettes and restricting the marketing of vapes to children, to help phase out smoking.

Greg Fell, ADPH President, signed the letter on behalf of all DsPH, saying:

“Put simply, this would be the greatest piece of public health legislation in a generation. No other product is as uniquely dangerous as cigarettes, which, if used according to the manufacturers’ instructions, kills up to two thirds of its users and causes a wide range of harms, disease and illness. Phasing out smoking would save thousands of lives, help protect the next generation from ever becoming addicted to this lethal product and do more to narrow the unacceptably large gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions than any other single measure.”