One year since to the smoking ban took effect in England, a report issued today says that 400,000 people have quit, and more than two billion fewer cigarettes were smoked. Researchers believe this will prevent 40,000 deaths over the next ten years.
Smoking was outlawed on July 1st 2007, after a lengthy battle that divided the government and inflamed critics of Britain as a nanny state.
Now though, more than three out of four people support the law, and almost 100 percent compliance has been achieved. The ban in England followed similar bans in Scotland and Wales on March 26th 2006 and April 2nd 2007 respectively.
Doctors claim to be astonished at the figures. Robert West, director of tobacco studies at the Health Behaviour Research Unit, University College London, who carried out the study, said: “These figures show the largest fall in the number of smokers on record. The effect has been as large in all social groups – poor as well as rich. I never expected such a dramatic impact.
“There was no guarantee that smoking rates would not start to rise again, after falling, and it was crucial to maintain the downward pressure. Currently around 22 per cent of the adult population smoke in Britain.
“If the Department of Health can keep up the momentum this has created, there is a realistic prospect of achieving a target of less than 15 per cent of the population smoking within 10 years,” he said.
The survey of 32,000 people in England interviewed before and after the ban took effect found the decline in smoking had accelerated. In the nine months before the ban it fell 1.6 per cent compared with 5.5 per cent in the nine months after the ban.
The study’s findings are to be presented at the UK National Smoking Cessation Conference in Birmingham tomorrow. The study, by Cancer Research UK and its partners, is the first in the world to examine the impact of a smoking ban in isolation from other tobacco control measures.
Jean King, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco control, said: “The smoke-free law was introduced to protect the health of workers from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. The results show it has also encouraged smokers to quit. These laws are saving lives and we mustn’t forget that half of all smokers die from tobacco-related illness. We must do everything possible to continue this success – we now need a national tobacco control plan for the next five years.”
In the past year cigarette sales fell by 6 per cent according to the market research company, Neilson. 1.93 billion fewer cigarettes were sold in England and 220,000 fewer in Scotland, in the 10 months from July 2007 to the end of April 2008, equivalent to a total decline in sales over the full year of 2.6 billion.
Jake Shepherd, the marketing director at Neilson, said smoking had been “hit by a triple whammy,” which accounted for the dramatic effect.
“In addition to the smoking ban, sales have been hit by the outlawing of the sale of tobacco to under-18s and the increase of duty on tobacco, which is pricing cash-strapped smokers out of the market,” he said.
Mr Shepherd said: “The wet summer of 2007 added to the downturn. The winter months were particularly bad – sales fell 9.3 per cent from November to January when smokers would have been reluctant to stand outside in the cold to have a cigarette.”
Anti-smoking pressure group ASH said that further action was necessary to curb smoking by young people.
Deborah Arnott, the director of ASH, said: “The smoke-free legislation has been a fantastic success and is hugely popular. But what it also shows is a hunger for more action.
“There is still much more that needs to be done. The Government should focus on measures to shield children from tobacco industry marketing while parents and carers can do much more to protect children from exposure to secondhand smoke.”
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Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 11:59 am
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One year since to the smoking ban took effect in England, a report issued today says that 400,000 people have quit, and more than two billion fewer cigarettes were smoked. Researchers believe this will prevent 40,000 deaths over the next ten years.
Now though, more than three out of four people support the law, and almost 100 percent compliance has been achieved. The ban in England followed similar bans in Scotland and Wales on March 26th 2006 and April 2nd 2007 respectively.
Doctors claim to be astonished at the figures. Robert West, director of tobacco studies at the Health Behaviour Research Unit, University College London, who carried out the study, said: “These figures show the largest fall in the number of smokers on record. The effect has been as large in all social groups – poor as well as rich. I never expected such a dramatic impact.
“There was no guarantee that smoking rates would not start to rise again, after falling, and it was crucial to maintain the downward pressure. Currently around 22 per cent of the adult population smoke in Britain.
“If the Department of Health can keep up the momentum this has created, there is a realistic prospect of achieving a target of less than 15 per cent of the population smoking within 10 years,” he said.
The survey of 32,000 people in England interviewed before and after the ban took effect found the decline in smoking had accelerated. In the nine months before the ban it fell 1.6 per cent compared with 5.5 per cent in the nine months after the ban.
The study’s findings are to be presented at the UK National Smoking Cessation Conference in Birmingham tomorrow. The study, by Cancer Research UK and its partners, is the first in the world to examine the impact of a smoking ban in isolation from other tobacco control measures.
Jean King, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco control, said: “The smoke-free law was introduced to protect the health of workers from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. The results show it has also encouraged smokers to quit. These laws are saving lives and we mustn’t forget that half of all smokers die from tobacco-related illness. We must do everything possible to continue this success – we now need a national tobacco control plan for the next five years.”
In the past year cigarette sales fell by 6 per cent according to the market research company, Neilson. 1.93 billion fewer cigarettes were sold in England and 220,000 fewer in Scotland, in the 10 months from July 2007 to the end of April 2008, equivalent to a total decline in sales over the full year of 2.6 billion.
Jake Shepherd, the marketing director at Neilson, said smoking had been “hit by a triple whammy,” which accounted for the dramatic effect.
“In addition to the smoking ban, sales have been hit by the outlawing of the sale of tobacco to under-18s and the increase of duty on tobacco, which is pricing cash-strapped smokers out of the market,” he said.
Mr Shepherd said: “The wet summer of 2007 added to the downturn. The winter months were particularly bad – sales fell 9.3 per cent from November to January when smokers would have been reluctant to stand outside in the cold to have a cigarette.”
Anti-smoking pressure group ASH said that further action was necessary to curb smoking by young people.
Deborah Arnott, the director of ASH, said: “The smoke-free legislation has been a fantastic success and is hugely popular. But what it also shows is a hunger for more action.
“There is still much more that needs to be done. The Government should focus on measures to shield children from tobacco industry marketing while parents and carers can do much more to protect children from exposure to secondhand smoke.”