The goal could not be more ambitious, a country free of tobacco smoke (more or less) by the year 2030. To that end, the British government has launched a program aimed at one million people to stop smoking completely, or at least, gradually, resorting to electronic cigarettes in an initial phase of transition.
Pregnant women who smoke (9%) will even be offered an economic incentive of up to 500 euros, while it will be mandatory that tobacco packages contain instructions on how to quit what is a vice for some and for others a pleasure with an element of risk.
Although health authorities admit that vaping is also not beneficial to health, and is prohibited in many settings, one fifth of British smokers will be encouraged over the next two years to switch to conventional cigarettes. the electronic ones, to disengage, offering them a free “introduction to vaping kit”. The program will cost 60 million euros.
Vaping is considered the lesser evil for adults, but the government plans to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. A study indicates that its use by boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 17 has doubled (from 3.3% to 7%) in 2022, and that its growing popularity exposes adolescents to potentially harmful effects -on for which there is little information - of chemical substances.
“The plan is to find a balance between combating youth vaping while also providing an alternative for adults to quit smoking and having e-cigarettes available as an alternative. Up to two in three smokers may die from tobacco, the nation's biggest preventable cause of death," said Neil O'Brien, Secretary of State for Health.
From the outset, the municipal authorities will be in charge of distributing the vaping kits, disseminating the program and contacting smokers, as the first step for a broader campaign at the national level. The million people who are expected to stop smoking will receive information and several product options, of different intensity and flavor, so that they can find the one that best suits their tastes and needs.
This initiative is the continuation of a plan launched in 2021, with the goal of Great Britain (where there are fewer smokers than the world average) to be a "tobacco-free country" by 2030. A study by Cancer Research UK notes however that it is highly unlikely that the target will be achieved before 2039.
New Zealand has introduced a law to raise the minimum age for purchasing tobacco by one year each year, so that those born after 1 January 2009 who are now fourteen never smoke in their lives. The British government plans to impose a similar measure, as well as ban smoking on beaches and the patios and gardens of pubs. A parliamentary committee has proposed raising the minimum age to legally purchase cigarettes to 21.
In Australia, a prescription is required to buy vaping products, while it is prohibited in countries such as Argentina, Iran, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka. In Turkey, only its sale, but not consumption if one has managed to manage it somehow. Great Britain, while acknowledging that they are potentially harmful, believes that e-cigarettes could help one million people to kick their tobacco addiction.
Since April, restaurants are required to list the calories in each dish. But the strategy against obesity, restricting the advertising of junk food and unhealthy products, has been frozen on the grounds that this is not the time to restrict consumer choice, in the midst of inflation and cost of living crises. The new government does not seem very interested in the issue. Better to be overweight than smoke...
