England continues to fall further behind its smoking control targets

England is falling further and further away from its goal of becoming smoke-free by 2030, according to a report published by Cancer Research UK. The public health target, set for 2030, could be delayed by nine years without a significant strengthening of tobacco control measures.[1].

In recent decades, England has achieved undeniable results in the fight against smoking, which seem to have slowed down significantly in recent years. For this reason, in 2018, Cancer Research UK already alerted the public and public authorities to the fact that, given the current trajectory, the objective of a tobacco-free England would not be achieved before 2037. The deterioration of the situation led the NGO to call on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to establish an ambitious plan to combat smoking, integrating both measures to support smoking cessation and measures aimed at preventing younger generations from starting to smoke.

A costly delay for the whole of England

If smoking prevalence continues to decline in England, this reduction would need to be 70% more intense to enable England to reach its target within the expected timeframe. If current trends persist, a nine-year delay would result in a high human cost, as smoking could cause an additional one million cancer cases by 2040. Currently, there are still 5.4 million smokers in England, while 75,000 to 100,000 people die from smoking each year in the country, and more than 500,000 hospital admissions per year are attributable to smoking. Furthermore, despite a relatively steady decline in smoking since the 1970s, this decline masks significant social disparities: smoking levels are higher among disadvantaged groups, and cases of cancer caused by smoking are nearly twice as high in disadvantaged areas as in more affluent areas. Finally, the smoking prevalence among 18-21 year-olds remains higher than the national prevalence. This situation as a whole translates into particularly high costs for the taxpayer.

Recommendations of the anti-smoking mission remain a dead letter

In June 2022, an independent mission, commissioned by the Department of Health to formulate recommendations to combat smoking, delivered its findings, proposing a series of twelve measures. Among the measures discussed, the mission considered the gradual raising of the legal age of sale of tobacco products, a "significant and sharp" increase in tax levels on all products, and the introduction of a licensing system aimed at reducing the accessibility of smoking, particularly among young people. Despite these recommendations and the mission's roadmap, the English government has not yet responded to these proposals. However, a recent poll for Cancer Research UK demonstrated public support for the fight against smoking: 70% of respondents said they were in favor of the public investing more resources in the goal of a smoke-free England.

FT

[1] Cancer Research UK, Smoking prevalence projections for England based on data to 2021, 12/2022, (accessed 04/01/2022)

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