CMO hails ‘footprint in history'
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
‘We have a time, 6am. We have a date, July 1st ,' the Chief Medical Officer for England , Sir Liam Donaldson told delegates at the Smokefree UK session. ‘And we have a footprint in history,' he added, thanking them – and those who could not attend – for their invaluable role in bringing this about.
‘This is a key piece of legislation, but it doesn't mean the job's done.'
Smoke free legislation was wanted , he said – according to the Office for National Statistics, 77 per cent of the public generally, and 45 per cent of smokers, were in favour. It was needed – as there was no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. And it was workable , as the experience of Ireland , Scotland , New York and New Zealand among many others had proved.
The key ingredients were all in place, but there was no room for complacency – there were still 100,000 smoking related deaths a year in the UK . ‘This is a key piece of legislation,' he told delegates. ‘But it doesn't mean the job's done.'
It was essential to keep moving forward and keep up the pressure, he stressed, and developments were continuing apace. NICE was making a final decision on a new smoking cessation product; there was the change in age for the legal sale of tobacco products from 16 to 18 from 1 October; there was the potential introduction of picture warnings on cigarette packets, which has worked well in Australia, but needed European legislation to implement here; and finally more action was needed on smuggling and importation, again requiring action at a European level.
Mass media campaigns were still a very important lever, he said, and it was essential to make sure that action at local level continued. California could almost be seen as the world example of best practice, he said, with smoking prevalence standing at just 14 per cent. This had been achieved over an extremely long period, with an annual reduction rate of 0.5 per cent. ‘We can learn from their experience, and outdo them' he told delegates.
Their key strategy had been very, very actively countering pro-tobacco influences, he said, along with dramatically reducing the availability of tobacco products in retail and social situations and excellent cessation programmes.
The ban had taken 20 years to become socially and politically acceptable, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health chief executive Graham Jukes told delegates. Too often the government had passed legislation without thinking about practical implementation, he said, but this was very definitely an example of how to do things properly.
The CIEH had been awarded the contract for training local authorities in implementing smoke free legislation from the Department of Health. His members were pursuing an educational, advisory and non-confrontational approach, he said, although there would inevitably be high profile cases of non-compliance in the press. ‘We want people to comply with this, and we will help them to do that.'