UK: Drop in teenage smokers

Not selling to under-18s effective

Research conducted by University College London and published in the journal Addiction has found that the number of 16- and 17-year-old smokers has dropped since it became illegal to sell cigarettes to under-18s in the UK. Researchers found the number of smokers dropped by 7 per cent, from around 24 per cent to around 17 per cent. Smoking rates in the over-18 age groups were not significantly affected by the legislation.

Dr Jenny Fidler, lead author based at Cancer Research UK’s health behaviour research centre at UCL, said: ‘The new law looks to have helped reduce smoking prevalence among younger age groups. This is good news for the future health of this generation of young people and shows that tobacco policies can make a real difference.’ With more than 80 per cent of smokers starting before the age of 19 and half of all long-term smokers dying of cancer or other smoking-related diseases, preventing young people from starting in the first place will reduce deaths from tobacco. Jean King, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco control, argues for greater regulatory measures to achieve this: ‘We need to do more to protect young people. We urge the government to prevent more lives being lost to an addiction that will kill half of all long-term smokers. Rolling out the regulations to remove tobacco displays in shops and getting rid of cigarette vending machines is needed and wanted by the public.’

Source: UCL News, 18 August 2010.

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