Smoking
Overview
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New legislation that came into place on 1st July 2007 made virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces in England smoke-free. The main purpose of the legislation is to protect employees and the public from the effects of second-hand smoke. It covers almost all enclosed and substantially enclosed public places and workplaces including shops, offices, factories, pubs, restaurants, public transport and work vehicles. Indoor workplace smoking rooms are no longer be provided. |
Although smoking prevalence has decreased since the 1960’s, smoking is still the UK’s single greatest cause of preventable illness and early death. Half of all regular cigarette smokers will be killed by their habit. Smoking causes almost 90% of all deaths from lung cancer, around 80% of all deaths from bronchitis and emphysema and around 17% of all deaths from heart disease. About one third of all cancer deaths can be attributed to smoking. Smoking is also linked to many other serious conditions including asthma and lung disease.
As well as the direct effects from smoking, second-hand smoke (sometimes referred to as ‘passive smoking’) can cause a range of serious medical conditions including heart disease, lung cancer, sudden infant death syndrome and asthma.
Costs
The economic cost of treating illness and disease caused by smoking is estimated to cost the NHS up to £1.7 billion each year in terms of GP visits, prescriptions, treatment and operations. In the South East, an estimated £32m was spent on NHS outpatient attendance attributable to smoking during 2005/06. Smoking is also responsible for other economic costs including lost earnings and sickness absence from work. In the South East, the total estimated loss of earnings from premature death due to smoking is £950m and the annual costs to business from smoking related sickness absence from work is approximately £418m.
The government is keen to reduce the number of smokers and has outlined the following national targets in the Public Service Agreement (PSA) 2007 on promoting health and wellbeing:
- to reduce smoking among adults (16 and over) to 21% or less by 2010
- to reduce smoking in routine and manual groups from to 26% or less by 2010
At the current rate of decline, it appears that the target for the overall population is likely to be reached or exceeded while that for smoking amongst manual groups is less certain.
The lead public health observatory for smoking is the London Health Observatory and more detailed background and resources can be found here.
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Key Resources
Lifestyle and behaviours - Smoking - Regional key resources
Lifestyle and behaviours - Smoking - National key resources
Lifestyle and behaviours - Smoking - Key organisations
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Last review November 2010.