Plain cigarette packets with no branding or logos, minimum
pack sizes of 20 and a ban on the advertising of cigarette papers
are just some of the ideas up for discussion in a move to reduce
the number of people who smoke.
The Department of Health consultation document
'The Future of Tobacco Control' (link opens
in a new window), is looking for people's views and aims to
start a debate around further measures that would stop people
smoking and prevent young people from starting to smoke.
The ideas and proposals in the consultation include:
- removing branding and logos from all tobacco packaging
- having a minimum pack size of 20 - to stop young people, who
can only afford packs of 10, buying cigarettes
- restricting access to cigarette vending machines by young
people - whether by banning vending machines altogether or through
systems that only allow adult purchase
- restricting the display of tobacco products in shops - which
may include putting cigarettes under the counter; and banning the
advertising of smoking items, such as cigarette papers
Read the
full
list of questions from the consultation.
The take up of smoking in young people is lower than a decade
ago, but more than 200,000 of all under 16s start smoking each
year. As a result they are three times more likely to die of cancer
due to smoking than someone who starts in their mid-20s.
Cabinet Member for Public Health
Graham
Gibbens said: "Despite much progress over the past ten years,
with 1.9 million fewer smokers since 1998, smoking is still the
biggest killer in England. Smoking related disease kills 87,000
people a year, almost the equivalent to the entire population of
towns such as Ashford, Dover or Tonbridge and Malling."
Smoking is the main cause of premature and avoidable death in
the United Kingdom, responsible for around one in five deaths.
Kent's response
In Kent, we are committed not only to providing local services
for people who want to give up smoking through the
Eastern
& Coastal Kent Stop Smoking Service (link opens in a new
window), and the
NHS West Kent Stop Smoking Service (link
opens in a new window), but also to addressing the wider issues
of tobacco control including promoting Smokefree places,
tackling underage sales and preventing smoking uptake.
It is estimated that there are nearly 12,000 admissions to
hospital each year in Kent which are the result of smoking, and in
2005/06 this cost the health service an estimated £26million.
Kent's Public Health Director Meradin Peachey, who works on
behalf of KCC and the county's Primary Care Trusts, said: "We want
to know what people in Kent think about these new proposals. One
year on from the introduction of smokefree legislation in public
places, these new proposals aim to take things one step
further.
"Do people agree or disagree? You can make your views known in a
number of ways - by responding to the Department of Health directly
or by contributing to Kent's response."
The Kent Alliance on Smoking and Health (KASH) are producing a
Kent-wide response to the consultation. The public can contribute
to that response on the KCC website, where they can signify their
support for four key statements and comment further on how they
want to see Kent tackling tobacco on the future.
Register your support
Register your support for the consultation
and submit comments that will contribute to a Kent-wide
response. Responses are required by 29 August 2008.
The four statements for public support are:
- I support a long-term plan which protects our children and
future generations from the harm that smoking causes
- I support measures to remove tobacco out of sight and reach of
children, including ending all displays of tobacco products at the
point of sale and ending the sale of tobacco products from vending
machines
- I support measures to protect our children from tobacco
marketing, including the introduction of plain packaging for all
tobacco products
- I support the need for an improved strategy to tackle smuggling
at national, regional and local level to stop the flow of tobacco
smuggled by criminal gangs
The 'Consultation on the Future of Tobacco Control' closes on 8
September 2008.
What is KASH?
The Kent Alliance on Smoking and Health (KASH) is a partnership
between organisations in Kent that are involved in tobacco control
issues, for example smokefree environments, stop smoking support,
underage tobacco sales, counterfeit tobacco products and tobacco
smuggling.
It is a progressive alliance and is continually developing its
role. It seeks to include additional organisations as well as
strengthen the involvement of existing partnerships. The alliance
currently consists of representatives from the Eastern and Coastal
Kent and West Kent Stop Smoking Services, the 12 local authorities
in Kent, Kent County Council Trading Standards and Kent County
Council Education as well as other agencies dealing with tobacco
control issues. |