On 3 July 2018, Public Health England published an update to their Local Tobacco Control Profiles.In the UK, 15.1% of people aged 18 years and above smoked cigarettes, which equates to around 7.4 million people in the population. Of the constituent countries, 14.9% of adults in England smoked; for Wales, this figure was 16.1%; Scotland, 16.3% and Northern Ireland, 16.5%. And 17.0% of men smoked compared with 13.3% of women. In the UK, 60.8% of people aged 16 years and above who currently smoked said they wanted to quit and 59.5% of those who have ever smoked said they had quit, and 5.5% of people in 2017 said they currently used an e-cigarette, which equates to approximately 2.8 million adults in the population.
Different Kinds of Smoking
In the UK, there are difeerentd choices for smoking people. Pipe cigarette, rolling tabacco, cigarette, e-cigarette, liquid cigarette and chewing tabacco. Smoking has become less common in the UK in recent years, explained by decreasing levels of smoking in England, Scotland and Wales.In 2015, of those aged 18 years and above 17.2% smoked cigarettes in the UK. This proportion is
statistically lower than the 20.1% of those who smoked in 2010. This decrease is due to the ban of smoking in the public places and the application of e-cigarettes.
Despite the name, ‘e-cigarette,’ these devices contain no tobacco and produce no smoke, and therefore any reference to them, should be under e-cigarettes and not smoking. Exceptions to this might be their role as an alternative to smoking, or as devices where it increasingly are helping young people avoid smoking.
Packages of Tabacco
The UK is the second country in the world and the first in Europe to require cigarettes to be sold in plain, standardised packaging, following the lead of Australiawhich implemented the measure in December 2012. Smoking law changes: From plain green cigarette packages to at least 20 per pack, here’s what’s different in 2017. Cigarette packets are now all a drab olive green, plastered with gruesome pictures of diseased organs presented in nauseating lurid yellows, pinks, reds and purple-browns and accompanied by stark health warnings in equally austere bold capitals.
Tobacco packaging has become one of the tobacco industry’s leading promotional tools. Research suggests that standardised packaging would increase the impact of health warnings, reduce false and misleading messages that one type of cigarette is less harmful than another, and reduce the attractiveness of smoking to young people.
Prices of Tabacco
The price of a packet of cigarettes in Britain has doubled in 10 years and almost quadrupled in two decades. Tobacco duty will increase at two per cent above inflation under planned price hikes first announced in 2014. The average cost of a 20-pack of premium cigarettes could now rise from £ 9.91 to £10.26, according to the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association (TMA).
Smokers are taxed a lot. In a 20-cigarette packet costing £7.35, some £5.37 of the cost goes to the tax man.Per packet, they currently pay tobacco duty at a rate of 16.5 per cent of the retail price, as well as a further ‘flat’ element of £4.15.The result of this is that the Government receives a lot of money from smokers, with FullFact’s most recent research showing that they bring in about £12 billion in direct tax revenues.
According to the Action on Smoking and Health group, smoking costs the NHS in England approximately £2bn a year for treating diseases caused by smoking. This cost includes hospital admissions, GP consultations and prescriptions – as well as any operations or treatment needed for smoking-related diseases. Whatever the direct impacts on the health or culture of society, in terms of the murky world of financial costs and benefits, smokers may actually be paying for their habits.
From my point of view, the plain green cigarette packages, the higher cigarette tax and the much healthier e-cigarette apprarently contributes to the current decrease of the smoking in the UK .
The decrease in smoking rates in the UK is encouraging, largely thanks to initiatives like plain packaging and higher taxes. It’s great to see e-cigarettes and other alternatives playing a role in this shift. For those looking for further alternatives, I recommend checking out https://www.hookahmerch.com/ for a variety of products that might help transition away from traditional smoking. These measures are clearly contributing to a healthier society and making a significant impact on public health.