Labour's new tobacco control policy is a damp squib from a government that won't be around to implement it. There are no surprises since all the proposed policies were pencilled in by the anti-smoking movement some years ago. They include plain packaging, banning cigarette machines and possibly extending smoking bans to some outdoor areas. Tell us one we haven't heard before.
If implemented, none of these will have any real effect on smoking habits. I would anticipate widespread opposition to restricting smoking outdoors from the British public who, contrary to received wisdom, have never fully supported a total ban indoors (as the British Social Attitudes survey revealed) and even the pub industry might wake from its slumber to fight off that particular idea. Banning cigarette machines will create mild inconvenience at best. Plain packaging is a piece of Soviet silliness which will only lead people to smoke cheaper brands.
Still setting arbitrary targets even in its twilight years, Labour has decided to reduce the smoking rate from 21% to 10% by 2020. Health Minister Andy Burnham "firmly believes" this is achievable, saying:
"One day, in the not too distant future, we'll look back and find it hard to remember why anyone ever smoked in the first place."
Burnham is truly ignorant of history if he believes this. As if to illustrate how deluded he is, Burnham's announcement coincides with Italy reporting a surge in smoking since its smoking ban:
More than two million people have started smoking again since the country’s authorities imposed a UK-style ban in 2005.
The law, which made smoking in all indoor public places illegal, bore results at first, with loyal customers choosing not to place owners of their favourite bars and restaurants at risk of massive fines.
But an initial 12 per cent drop in cigarette sales has been reversed, with the latest shock figures revealing that Italy now boasts a record 13 million smokers.
Nothing being proposed today has the potential to modify behaviour like the smoking ban did, and - as events in Italy and elsewhere show - that piece of legislation never came close to fulfilling the grand promises that were made of it. It has been, by and large, a socially divisive failure which had minimal impact on the smoking rate.
The fact is, the government and the anti-smoking lobby are running out of ideas and have resorted to schemes drawn up by the lunatic fringe. At the same time, they face a public that is becoming increasingly tired of nanny state politics. They can set whatever targets they like but the big question in 2010 is not how the government can change the people but how the people can change the government.
3 comments:
It would appear that Labour have some kind of death wish. They have swallowed the 'popularity' figures produced by CRUK and ASH without question. Perhaps they think that the entire public hate the 12 million smokers so much that it's a bright idea to declare war on them.
These proposals are a gift for those of us who have been arguing that the ban was never about health at all.
There could be blogging fun for a few days in this. ;-)
You are quite right they are indeed running out of ideas. The only people keeping smoking and health in the news are the antismokers. If they would shut up and go away smokers and non-smokers would reach an accommodation satisfactory to all concerned and life would go on.
So to keep the mindless, irrational bigots of the antismoking cadre in work I have a few suggestions for them:
Ban smoked foodstuffs. If there is no safe dose of second hand smoke then food steeped in smoke from wood and leaves (yer know just like tobacco leaves) must be instantly lethal.
Ban open fires as a means of keeping warm, smoke from wood and coal contains many of if not all of the same chemicals as smoke from burning leaves.
Ban barbecues, outdoor ccoking creates, yes you got it, smoke.
Ban candles, they smoke.
Ban all forms of combustion, no more field burning, garden debris disposal and shelve any ideas of rubbish to energy technologies, they would involve smoke. No bonfires, no fireworks, ban matches ........ and on and on and on. Should keep them in work right up until someone ties them to a stake and sets fire to them.
M. Cooper
There is one thing that is being overlooked.
Also included in the proposals are a 'harm reduction' approach involving new Nicotine delivery systems for long term use. A green light for BigP and to some extent BigT.
Proposed via the MHRA is new regulatory framework for all Nicotine products that are not tobacco products.
There is also a recomitment to the EU ban on Snus.
This suggests that these non tobacco products will be pushed to coerce people who smoke to quit. The mechanisms for this beng put in place via PCTs and others.
Yes the headlines were all trailed and to some extent these are a side show.
The MHRA and NICE also put out consultations on 'Harm reduction' in Tobacco Control today.
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