New report on harmful products

A new report released today by our partners Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) and the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA), has revealed the scale of economic harm caused collectively by tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drinks – all causes of death and chronic disease.

The report shows that the wage penalty, unemployment and economic inactivity caused by tobacco, alcohol and obesity costs the UK economy an eye-watering £31bn and has led to an estimated 459,000 people out of work.

While any level of smoking is harmful (100% of tobacco usage), analysis for the report found that 43.4% of alcohol purchased by UK households, and 28.8% of food purchased, were over the Government’s guidelines on safe consumption of alcohol and saturated fat, free sugars or salt. This equates to £81.5 billion being spent by consumers on products which harm them.

Meanwhile each year, the industries which sell these products make an estimated £53bn of combined industry revenue from sales at levels harmful to health.

The coalition of charities is calling on Government to put in place a comprehensive strategy to prevent ill-health from commercially driven risk factors, and redress the balance between industry influence and the public’s health.

Alice Wiseman, ADPH’s Policy Lead for Addiction, welcomed today’s report, saying:

“This report clearly shows the extent to which tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drink are harming our health. It also highlights the frighteningly high level of influence that industry has been allowed to have over our health.

“The Government must draw on the lessons we have learnt from tobacco control and protect health policy from the interests and influence of industry to enable effective implementation of similar restrictions and regulations on all harmful products. We can then create a society with an environment that promotes good health, as opposed to one that constantly pushes us to consume products that actively harm our health.

“Directors of Public Health work in partnership with colleagues in local authorities, business and the community and voluntary sector to try and address these issues on a local level. However, to tackle these commercial determinants of health effectively and consistently across the country, we need bold, national action that puts the health of communities at the heart of their decision-making and before commercial profit.

“Far from being restrictive, policy to regulate harmful products, would give us the freedom to enjoy living healthier lives, for longer and, as this report shows, is urgently needed.”