Smoking in United Kingdom

My part:

  • Research information on what the government and the private sector are doing to deal with this issue?
  • Discuss measures such as awareness campaigns, events, change in laws, etc.
  • How successful have these strategies been?

What the government and the private sector are doing to deal with this issue?

Smoking causes higher number of deaths than anything else. It was around 80,000 in England during the year 2011. Cigarette smoking also puts impact on the family members of a person. Every year, the hospitals in the UK witness more than 9,500 admissions of children for illness due to the cause of passive smoking (Fix et al., 2011).

There are still around eight million smokers in England.

In order to solve this particular issue, the UK government has taken some effective actions, such as,

  • The government has made a target of reducing the number of adult smokers by 18.5%, which means around 210000 less smokers per year.
  • Reducing the number of old smokers by 12%.
  • In England, the government has banned TV and press advertisements by cigarette companies.
  • The prices of cigarettes are increased in order to reduce the consumption.
  • The government has initiated to keep the tax rates high for the cigarettes in order to discourage people for smoking.
  • A bunch of anti-smoking campaigns is organized every year.
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    These campaigns are conducted to make people aware of the negative impacts of smoking. Apart from this, there are some other reasons like encouraging the smokers to quit smoking, stopping young people from taking up smoking, etc.

  • The government has been taken an initiative of promoting the consumption of e-cigarettes.
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    Though the product is not circulated commercially, it will be helpful in order to control the issue in future (Denman et al., 2015).

Measures of Reducing Smoking

The most important way to reduce the smoking issue from the society is to prevent smoking for the new smokers. When youngsters try their first cigarette at the age of thirteen or fourteen, at that time, they do not have the knowledge about the possible consequences and health related risks of it (Tsoi, Porwal, & Webster, 2013). Amongst the young people, the short-term health issues include respiratory and non-respiratory effects, addiction towards nicotine and other related problems. In case, long term health issues include lung cancer, throat cancer, etc. Maximum portion of the young people, who smoke from the teenage time, continue to smoke throughout the adulthood (Tsoi, Porwal, & Webster, 2013).

There are certain ways to reduce the issue of smoking, such as, organizing in house seminars and anti-smoking campaigns in school and colleges, increasing the price of cigarettes by hiking the excise tax, huge warning notes and images on the packets of cigarettes, reducing the ability of the tobacco industry in doing advertising activities. Reducing the chances of buying tobacco by below eighteen-year-old customers by directing the retail store owners about the consequences, and also regarding this, strict policies can be applied by the government, organizing large-scale anti-smoking campaigns twice in a year by the government, etc.

Organizing in house anti-smoking campaigns is the frequently and one of the most common methods considered by the school authorities in order to spread awareness regarding the health issues of smoking. Smoking is a huge issue for not only the society but also for the environment as well. According to Medical News Today, 2004 (Tsoi, Porwal, & Webster, 2013), cigarette smoke causes ten times more pollution in the environment than the diesel and petrol cars. This critical issue has been considered by most of the developed countries and some under developed countries like India. There are countries like Africa, where the smoking rates are very high still do not have effective measures to control it.

Effectiveness of the Strategies

It is important to judge whether these measures are actually effective in terms of reducing the negative impact of smoking on the society and environment. Around 90% of the successful quitters have undertaken a self-help strategy. Around 8% of the successful quitters have adopted assisted method were mostly women, who were aged between forty-five to sixty-four. The twelve-month abstinence rates for the people, who used self-help method, have a range from 8% to 25% (PMC, 2014).

Awareness programs by the media also put positive effects on reducing this smoking issue. The self-help clinics advertised by the television media have changed the perception of the smokers and helped them in quitting smoking as well (PMC, 2014). The mass-media campaigns have also played a crucial role for solving this issue. The impact of these large campaigns is widespread and able to reach to so many people, because these campaigns are pact with so many messages, they are very much effective also (PMC, 2014).

The role of a Physician is very important for a smoker, who wants to quit. Physicians help the individuals through the counselling process. This process is so effective and created noticeable impact on the smokers' minds and helps them to stop smoking.

Increasing the price of the cigarettes has also generated positive results. Due to this price hike, there were so many cigarette consumers in the developing and under-developed countries, who had quit smoking.

References:

  1. Denman, A. R., Rogers, S., Timson, K., Phillips, P. S., Crockett, R. G., & Groves-Kirkby, C. J. (2015). Future initiatives to reduce lung cancer incidence in the United Kingdom: smoking cessation, radon remediation and the impact of social change. Perspectives in public health, 135(2), 92-101.
  2. Fix, B. V., Hyland, A., Rivard, C., McNeill, A., Fong, G. T., Borland, R., ... & Cummings, K. M. (2011). Usage patterns of stop smoking medications in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States: findings from the 2006-2008 International Tobacco Control (ITC) four country survey. International journal of environmental research and public health, 8(1), 222-233.
  3. Tsoi, D. T., Porwal, M., & Webster, A. C. (2013). Interventions for smoking cessation and reduction in individuals with schizophrenia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (2).
  4. PMC. (2014). Are tobacco control policies effective in reducing young adult smoking? Retrieved from
Updated: Oct 10, 2024
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Smoking in United Kingdom. (2019, Dec 01). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/smoking-in-united-kingdom-essay

Smoking in United Kingdom essay
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