For decades, smoking has taken a devastating toll on society. In the last 10 years, it has caused nearly 400,000 cancer deaths in the UK — stealing mothers, fathers and grandparents from their families.
The harm caused by cigarettes has filled hospital wards, drained millions from the NHS, and impacted negatively on our economic growth.
With the Tobacco and Vapes Bill set to become law, that story begins to change. This marks a turning point, one that will help protect our children from deadly addiction, disease and early deaths.
For me, this is personal. I think about my son, aged 16. Thanks to this new world-leading law, he will never legally be sold tobacco in the UK. Neither will his friends or peers, including your children, nieces or nephews.
An entire generation could be shielded from deadly addiction, helping to prevent millions of people and their loved ones from facing the agony of a cancer diagnosis.
This victory has been hard-won. For nearly 80 years, ever since Cancer Research UK first proved the link between tobacco and cancer, we have battled a tobacco industry which time and time again protected its profits, even as the human cost became undeniable.
This time, public health — not Big Tobacco — has won. And while future generations will be protected, we cannot forget that many people today are still trapped by tobacco addiction.
Around 5.3 million people in the UK currently smoke. They deserve proper, long-term support to quit for good, and the UK Government must not step back from funding smoking cessation support that saves lives.
We cannot undo the heartbreak that tobacco has already caused. But now we’re drawing a line.
If we protect this law, we could set the country on a path to ending the leading cause of cancer in the UK, helping to spare our children from all the suffering that this toxic product brings.
– Michelle Mitchell is chief executive of Cancer Research UK
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
