ADPH joins call for action on smoking ban
It is vitally important that this Bill, which is an opportunity to save even more lives, protect future generations from becoming addicted to this lethal product, and give freedom to live a healthier life to the 88% of people – including thousands of medically vulnerable people – who don’t smoke, is passed without further delay.
Peter Roderick
ADPH spokesperson for addiction
We have joined over 1,200 public health professionals to urge MPs and peers from across the political spectrum to ensure the swift passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, warning that an estimated 124,600 young people (aged 18-25) will have taken up smoking since the legislation was first introduced last November.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the UK and is responsible for over 70,000 deaths every year and, as the House of Lords begins the Bill’s committee stage today, a coalition of doctors, midwives, public health directors, smoking cessation advisors, academics, clinicians, nurses, trading standards officers, environmental health professionals and councillors have written to party health spokespeople demanding speedy implementation of the legislation, calling it a ‘historic opportunity to protect future generations.’
The open letter lays bare the real cost of political drift. It has been six months since Parliament last debated the Bill in April, so around 60,000 young people will have started smoking in that time. Another six months of ministerial silence would be nothing short a national failure, say the campaign group Action on Smoking and Health who convened the letter.
The world-leading Tobacco and Vapes Bill, one of the most ambitious public health measures in decades, would make it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after 1st January 2009, creating a smokefree generation. It will also grant the government the power to curb the irresponsible marketing of vapes to children.
Peter Roderick, spokesperson for addiction for the Association of Directors of Public Health said:
“Smoking doesn’t just kill smokers. It also kills a significant number of non-smokers, including infants and children. In the UK, these numbers are far fewer than they were before the restrictions on advertising and sales, and on smoking in public places.
“It is therefore vitally important that this Bill, which is an opportunity to save even more lives, protect future generations from becoming addicted to this lethal product, and give freedom to live a healthier life to the 88% of people – including thousands of medically vulnerable people – who don’t smoke, is passed without further delay.”
Signatories to the letter, which highlights the six-month delay since the Bill’s last appearance in Parliament, stress that the legislation is a once in a generation opportunity to turn the tide on tobacco, protect young people and save tens of thousands of lives.