Department of Health and Social Care
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Last gasp for cigarette vending machines - Embargoed Press Release - 00:01 03/10/11
From today, the sale of tobacco from vending machines is prohibited across England. The ban has been introduced to prevent under-age sales to children and to support adults who are trying to quit.
Nearly all of adult smokers started smoking before they turned 18 and every year over 300,000 children try smoking for the first time. Of the children who regularly smoke, 11 per cent buy their cigarettes from vending machines.
Cigarette vending machines are often unsupervised, making it easy for children to buy cigarettes from them. It is estimated that 35 million cigarettes are sold illegally through vending machines to children every year.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:
“Smoking is one of the biggest and most stubborn challenges in public health. Over eight million people in England still smoke and it causes more than 80,000 deaths each year.
“Cigarette vending machines are often unsupervised, making it easy for children to purchase cigarettes from them. The ban on cigarette sales from vending machines will protect children by making cigarettes less accessible to them - we want to do everything we can to encourage young people not to start smoking in the first place.”
Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said:
“More that 300,000 children under 16 try smoking each year, and nearly all smokers start smoking regularly before they turn 18. We know that 11per cent of 11 to 15 year-olds who regularly smoke say that they buy cigarettes from vending machines. We want to stop young people starting smoking – and we believe this will reduce the numbers of new smokers and support people who are trying to quit.
“Seven out of ten current smokers want to give up smoking, and anyone considering giving up smoking should get in touch with their local NHS stop Smoking Service for free help, advice and support.”
Jo Butcher, the National Children’s Bureau’s programme director of health and wellbeing, said:
“The National Children’s Bureau welcomes the ban on cigarette vending machines. A person’s lifetime smoking or non-smoking behaviour is heavily influenced by their decisions in adolescence. Children and young people tell us that external influences make it even more difficult for them to choose healthier lifestyles. It’s essential that we create environments that improve health and tobacco legislation is an important part of public health protection and promotion”.
The ban of cigarette sales from vending machines is part of Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England that the Government announced on 9 March. It sets out the Department of Health’s aims to reduce smoking rates in England by the end of 2015:
from 21 per cent to 18.5 per cent or less among adults; from 15 per cent to 12 per cent or less among 15 year olds; and from 14 per cent to 11 per cent or less among pregnant mothers.
From today, anyone caught selling cigarettes from a vending machine may be fined up to £2,500. Any person found guilty of displaying cigarette adverts on a vending machine could face imprisonment for up to six months, or a fine of £5,000, or both.
Notes to Editors
For media enquiries, please contact the Department of Health newsdesk on 020 7210 5221.Statistics on how many underage people buy cigarettes from vending machines came from the NHS Information Centre. Data collected from tests by English local authorities shows that the majority (56 per cent) of vending machines across England had made illegal sales to under-18s: http://www.lacors.gov.uk/lacors/ViewDocument.aspx?docID=25141&docType=C.Industry information suggests that 78 per cent of cigarette vending machines are located in public houses, 10 per cent in clubs, 7 per cent in hotels or restaurants, 3 per cent in shops, 1 per cent in bingo halls and 1 per cent elsewhere.Smoking costs the NHS £50 million every week. Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England is available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_124917
7. On 9 March, the Government set out the following key actions in the Tobacco Control Plan for England:
· stopping the promotion of tobacco;
· making tobacco less affordable;
· effective regulation of tobacco products;
· helping tobacco users to quit;
· reducing exposure to secondhand smoke; and
· effective communications for tobacco control.
8. Adult smoking rates have been brought down from over 45 per cent in the early 1970s to 21 per cent in 2008.
Over 80,000 people die in England each year from smoking-related diseases – more than all deaths from alcohol, road traffic and other accidents, suicide, illegal drugs and diabetes combined.Treating smoking diseases is estimated to cost the NHS around £2.7bn per year and the wider costs to society of smoking are estimated at almost £14bn per year.It is never too late to quit. Smokers who quit with the help of the NHS have the greatest success - NHS stop smoking services are four times more effective than cold turkey quitting and twice as effective as medication alone. For help to quit, call the NHS Smokefree Helpline on 0800 022 4 332 or visit the Smokefree website at www.nhs.uk/smokefree
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk
