Stopping the start must succeed
The Prime Minister has presented us with a once in a lifetime opportunity to prevent the next generation being able to buy this highly addictive, lethal product which we know will cause untold harm to both individuals and society. We must all do everything we can to turn this legislation into reality.
Greg Fell
ADPH Interim President
Today, we have called for universal support for the Government’s ‘Stopping the start’ proposals on smoking.
Greg Fell, ADPH Interim President, said:
“On first hearing the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday we were cautiously optimistic. Having now had the opportunity to read the Government’s command paper in detail, we are incredibly excited.”
Smoking kills around 64,000 people in the UK every year – deaths which are entirely preventable. In addition to deaths, smoking causes multiple harms illness and disease including stillbirths, lung disease, heart disease, stroke and dementia.
The fact that most smokers start young means that often, people become addicted at an early age and have great difficulty quitting.
Fell, who is also Director of Public Health for Sheffield, continued:
“Most smokers regret they ever started and try to quit multiple times. What this historic package of measures will do is prevent our children and young people from ever becoming addicted, avoiding future ill-health and saving lives.
“At the same time, the added investment for public health and enforcement means that local authorities will be able to crack down on illegal sales and provide much-needed resources for stop smoking services.”
In a recent YouGov poll, 71% of adults said they would support raising the legal age of smoking by one year, each year and ADPH is now calling on cross-party, cross-sector support to ensure that the legislation – which will prevent thousands of deaths each year – is passed.
Fell explained:
“The tobacco industry is big business. Like most businesses, it exists to make a profit and it can only do that by getting people to buy its products. Those products are lethal, but tobacco marketing and advertising is developed specifically to entice children and young people, who then become addicted. They become the next generation of consumers and so the cycle goes on.
“This legislation will stop that cycle in its tracks and protect our children from ever smoking so that they never need to say what their parents and grandparents say – that they wish they had never started.
“The Prime Minister has presented us with a once in a lifetime opportunity to prevent the next generation being able to buy this highly addictive, lethal product which we know will cause untold harm to both individuals and society. We must all do everything we can to turn this legislation into reality.”