Tuesday, 23rd February 2010
The UK Government should show leadership when it comes to smoking rates
Dear Sir,
The shock news that, despite the smoking ban, tobacco sales rose by 3.3% in the UK last year to a staggering £11.3 billion is disgraceful. If the UK Government is so keen on reducing poverty, why is it not doing more to eradicate smoking? It is an established fact that the people who smoke the most are the poorest. They are the ones who are paying most of this massive bill. Smoking exacerbates poverty as money spent on cigarettes is money not spent on basic necessities like food, shelter, education and health care.
Tobacco kills up to one in every two long-term users, half of these in middle age. Worldwide, tobacco related illnesses kill 5.4 million people a year, 80% of which are in low and middle-income countries, the very countries now being targeted by the cynical tobacco giants.
Tobacco use deprives families of basic needs and causes unnecessary and avoidable illness and suffering. It is time the UK Government showed some leadership - or are they quite content simply to sit back and rake in the huge revenue they get from tobacco taxes?
STRUAN STEVENSON, MEP
