It is hard to imagine that 20 years have passed since the government published a white paper proposing that smoking be eventually banned in certain indoor environments, including all enclosed workplaces and public places. At the time, 115,000 people died each year in the UK from smoking-related illnesses, and more than a quarter of these tragic deaths were due to heart and circulatory diseases. Two decades later, smoke-free indoor spaces are now the norm, and the controversy over their acceptance is long gone.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has seen the devastating impact tobacco has on countless lives and families and has long supported efforts to protect people’s health from the burden of tobacco addiction. In 2004, we worked with the Department of Health to help them play their part, running a powerful advertising campaign that included: Please give up before you get stuck. This gruesome ad used a striking image of fat dripping from a cigarette to visually highlight the fat that smoke builds up in the arteries, dramatically highlighting the damage that all cigarettes cause. It was my first BHF campaign with him, and I remember being very impressed.

It is estimated that over 14,000 smokers have quit smoking, attendance at smoking cessation clinics has doubled year on year and millions of dollars have been saved for the NHS as a direct result of this intuitive and iconic campaign. It has been. As I listened to people’s reactions, I realized that, just like now, the burden of nicotine addiction rests on the shoulders of so many smokers.

20 years on, we have made progress with further tobacco control, but it remains shocking that 80,000 people will die from smoking-related causes in the UK this year, Our progress has stalled.

There is also no doubt that smoking has an even greater impact on people in poorer areas. Smoking is a major driver of health inequalities across the UK, with nearly five times as many adults smoking in the most deprived areas of Lincolnshire than in the most deprived areas of Surrey. More needs to be done to tackle this problem, including making more targeted cessation services available in areas where the need is greatest.

And today, in 2024, with new legislation introduced in Congress to raise the age of tobacco sales, we have a critical opportunity to act and protect future generations from the devastating effects of smoking.

To save lives and families from the burden of losing a loved one prematurely, it is important to not only continue to help current smokers quit, but also to ensure that the next generation is protected from taking up smoking in the first place. .

This Bill is an opportunity for the UK Government to lead the way towards a smoke-free generation, saving lives, tackling health inequalities and, in turn, reducing burdens and costs on the NHS.
Such changes may seem radical in the moment, and changes that balance freedom and economic interests are always hotly contested.

However, the British Heart Foundation believes that many smokers die from heart attacks and strokes, with 80,000 loved ones losing their lives across the UK every year. I am.

So, as Britain’s heart charity, we urge all politicians to support this life-saving Bill. Now is the time to take a bold step to save lives. Now is not the time to focus on smoke and mirrors, but rather to take inspiration from two decades of progress and choose to protect future generations from the destruction caused by tobacco.

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