Smoking in United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, smoking is allowed but tobacco products are subject to certain regulations. Under these regulations, there is a complete ban on all forms of tobacco advertising. Cigarettes can be purchased online, but not through vending machines. The importation of cigarettes for trade is allowed with an import license. Additionally, health warnings on cigarette packaging are required, and the minimum legal age for purchase is 18 years. Legal restrictions on smoking in public places are also enforced. Cigarettes in the UK are subject to an excise tax of 50.56% and a total taxation rate of 83.72%. Statistics show a gradual decline in the current smoking prevalence in the UK since 2000. There were approximately 6.7 million current adult smokers in the country in 2024, representing an adult current smoking prevalence of 11.8%. This was 13.1% in 2022, and 27.1% in 2000. Smoking prevalence was higher among males with 13.6% than among females with 10.1% in 2024. Daily smoking prevalence among adults was 9.1% overall, 8.1% among females, and 10.2% among males in 2024. In 2021, smoking led to 75,848 deaths in the UK, of which 44,400 deaths were among males and 31,448 deaths were among females. This shows that smoking consisted 11.05% of all deaths in the country, including 12.6% of all male deaths and 9.42% of all female deaths.
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November 10, 2021 by filtermag.org
UK Will Send a Powerful Message by Allowing NHS to Prescribe Vapes
The UK has long been among the world’s leaders in tobacco harm reduction, and for years the country’s health authorities have endorsed the use of vapes to quit smoking. So when the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced on October 29 that it would create updated regulations, clearing the way for licensed e-cigarette products to be prescribed to smokers by the National Health Service (NHS), it made international headlines.
And why not make them available on the NHS? The key advantage is that vapes are more effective for quitting smoking than traditional nicotine-replacement products [...]
November 02, 2021 by capx.co
Britain should not listen to the unaccountable, unscientific WHO on vaping
When we voted to leave the European Union, it was to escape the rule of Brussels. Freedom to decide our own laws for ourselves was as a key reason why so many people voted the way that they did in the 2016 referendum.
Exiting the EU has given us a new mandate to take a fresh look at all the rules and regulations imposed upon us by multinational bodies, consider why they were imposed in the first place and assess whether they should remain or be revoked or improved upon.
One such policy area that stands out is smoking. Harm reduction products such as vaping, e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn tobacco and nicotine pouches are back on the agenda.
November 02, 2021 by theguardian.com
‘There is something for everybody’: readers on switching from cigarettes to vaping
In an attempt to reduce the smoking rates in England, the NHS is considering making e-cigarettes available on prescription to help tobacco smokers quit and switch to vaping.
Four people speak about their experiences of using e-cigarettes and how they helped them stop smoking. [...] I was a heavy smoker from the age of 17 until I was 40. I tried several times to quit and used nicotine replacement aids (chewing gum, inhalator and patches) as well as acupuncture, hypnosis and will power. [...]
Nothing worked until I took up vaping eight years ago.
November 01, 2021 by sciencemediacentre.org
expert reaction to Department of Health press release ‘e-cigarettes could be prescribed on the NHS in world first’
Prof Jacob George, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Dundee, said:
“This is very welcome news for millions of people who are trying to quit tobacco cigarettes. Clinical trial evidence suggests that it is more effective than nicotine patches for smoking cessation and it has positive effects on blood vessels when tobacco smokers switch to e-cigarettes.”
Prof Peter Hajek, Director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), said:
“I have an ambivalent take on this. On the one hand, the initiative provides a positive message that e-cigarettes are much less risky than smoking and help smokers quit. [...]
October 29, 2021 by express.co.uk
NHS to prescribe e-cigarettes to help smokers kick habit
Doctors in England would be the first in the world to adopt medically licensed vaping devices to save lives. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “This has the potential to tackle the stark disparities in smoking rates across the country.” Guidance setting out steps manufacturers must follow to submit products for approval are published today by The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
If a vaping device is given the green light, doctors would then be able to decide whether a patient could benefit from a prescription.
October 20, 2021 by theguardian.com
‘Smoking kills’ could be printed on every cigarette under new proposals
Individual cigarettes could have “smoking kills” printed on them under a raft of tough measures proposed by MPs to encourage more people to quit the deadly habit.
MPs have submitted an amendment to the health and care bill going through parliament which would allow the health secretary to make graphic health warnings mandatory.
“We know that cigarettes are cancer sticks and kill half the people who use them. So I hope that health warnings on cigarettes would deter people from being tempted to smoke in the first place, especially young people,” said Mary Kelly Foy, the Labour MP behind the move.
October 12, 2021 by vice.com
Kids Are Making Hundreds of Pounds Selling Shisha Vape Pens at School
E-cigarettes, or vapes, first began to soar to popularity in the late 2000s, because people believed they were a healthier alternative to cigarettes. Since then, vaping has become a global phenomenon, and in the schools of Northern England the craze is at large. Recent data (uncovered after enquiries by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism) showed a serious North-South divide around underage vaping in England. The data revealed that more than a fifth of teenagers aged 15 in Yorkshire and the Humber were underage vaping, which made them three times more likely to do so than the equivalent age group in London. [...]
September 27, 2021 by express.co.uk
WHO costing millions of lives with e-cigarettes opposition - shock claim
Clive Bates, the former director of the anti-smoking campaign group ASH, told journalists at a briefing last week that Britain needs to push internationally for a change of policy to save millions of lives. It came as Parliamentarians have called for the UK Government to use its Brexit freedoms to have a “big independent voice” at the United Nations (UN) COP9 summit on tobacco harm to push for greater use of e-cigarettes as an alternative.
September 23, 2021 by ecigarettedirect.co.uk
Vape Age Restrictions Will Mean More Young Smokers
The UK government has recently been mulling lifting the age limit on buying cigarettes and vaping products to 21.
There are complex arguments around raising the age limits on cigarettes (think personal freedom, whether you have a choice when you are addicted, net public health gain and so on). [...]
To help put this article together I spoke to Louise Ross. Decades in smoking cessation, running a stop smoking service, chairing the New Nicotine Alliance and being business development manager for an innovative stop smoking app means there are few better people to understand the consequences of vape legislation.
September 22, 2021 by filtermag.org
The US Obsession With Youth Vaping Looks Odd From Across the Atlantic
[...] A ubiquitous British slang word for a cigarette is also an offensive slur in the States. But if social media is anything to go by, the nicotine taboos run deeper than vocabulary.
Specifically, I’ve noticed regular tweets from US-based accounts which express surprise, amusement or even disgust about older people vaping. Examples include: “Seeing old people vaping will never not be funny to me,” “Anyone else cringe x 10 when they see old people vaping?” and “Old people vaping is just as shocking as babies smoking cigarettes.”