The British Government has launched brand new smoke free campaign to encourage 5.3 million smokers in England to make a quit attempt in January, not only for their health, but also to help ensure young people are not being influenced to start smoking.
According to the statement released by the Department of Health and Social Care on Wednesday stated that the National Health Scheme (NHS) made the launch which place United Kingdom in the lead to be the first country in the world to create a smokefree generation by phasing out the sale of tobacco.
In a hard-hitting campaign film released on Wednesday, former England goalkeeper and ex-smoker David James joins a number of other ex-smokers to discuss the influence their parents’ smoking had on them taking up the habit themselves, and how being around children was their motivation to quit.
In this new, poignant film released, the former England goalkeeper discussed how his family members and friends smoked around him when he was a youngster, which led to him taking up the habit, described how smoking impacted his performance on the football world stage.
Three quarters (76%) of people in England support the principle of creating a smokefree generation YouGov survey – commissioned by campaign group Action on Smoking and Health, has found with only 9% opposing.
The former England goalkeeper, David James, in his reaction said, he smoked for about 15 years and at the time, it was normal, adding that his mum smoked, his friends smoked, all around him which didn’t take long for him to be hooked.
“Looking back, it had a huge impact on my health and performance at the time, I wish I never started. My health, my children and my fans were huge motivators for me to quit – I didn’t want younger people to see me smoking and think it was okay”, he said.
David James is joined by a number of other ex-smokers in the film to discuss the influence their parents’ smoking had on them taking up the habit themselves.
They are accompanied by Nick Hopkinson, Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College London, who was involved with the UK Millennium Cohort Study research, and TV doctor, Dr Sarah Jarvis, who talks through the wider impact of generational smoking.
The government continues to go further and faster to support people to quit smoking. Under the world-first Swap to Stop scheme, the government has so far received requests from local authorities nationwide for an unprecedented 259,000 vapes.
Vaping is rightly used by adults as a tool to quit smoking, but the health advice is clear: if you don’t smoke, don’t vape – and children should never vape.
As part of the scheme, almost 1 in 5 of all smokers in England will be provided with a vape starter kit alongside behavioural support to help them quit the habit. This is part of a series of new measures to help the government meet its ambition of making England smokefree.
Public Health Minister, Andrea Leadsom said, smoking is the biggest preventable killer in the UK and places a huge burden on NHS while added that cigarettes are responsible for 64,000 deaths a year in England alone – no other consumer product kills up to two-thirds of its users.
He said, “That’s why we need to act now to prevent our children from ever lighting one. Our historic Tobacco and Vapes Bill will protect the next generation from the harms of smoking and risk of addiction.
Furthermore, report has it that smoking is still the single largest preventable cause of death in England. Almost every minute of every day someone is admitted to hospital with a smoking related disease.
Smoking costs the economy and wider society £17 billion a year, which includes an annual £14 billion loss to productivity, through smoking related lost earnings, unemployment, and early death, as well as costs to the NHS and social care of £3 billion.
This is equivalent to the annual salaries of over half a million nurses, 390,000 GPs, 400,000 police officers, or 400 million GP appointments. Reducing the prevalence of smoking will reduce those costs, lower pressure on NHS, and help the economy become more productive.